The Hobbit, Prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The Hobbit, Prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I got a great deal from Audible on this book, so I am listening to it again for about the 4th time. Actually, I think I am going to use it for my homeschool unit on Folklore for my granddaughter.

For me, it is a big comfort read, something like Harry Potter. There is just such a wealth of experiences in the book. Why is it so much easier to see through human behavior when we look through the eyes of other creatures?

Essentially, Bilbo Baggins has found himself on an adventure which is something that Hobbits never do...except for the Took side of the family, and that is way back in the genealogy. Gandalf the wizard has sold him as a master burglar to a group of dwarfs and they are on the way to retrieve their ancient treasures stolen by Smaug the dragon. Along the way we meet all sorts of creatures such as trolls, goblins, elves and the like. Bilbo finds himself in a capital adventure and at times he is not sure he likes it, but in every way, he rises to the occasion and finds that he actually does have some skills as a burglar.

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A Little Princess

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful story of a little girl, Sara Crew, who is the apple of her widowed father's eye. She has lived in India all her life, but she is forced to go to an exclusive boarding school, Miss Minchen's Seminary in London to be properly educated. She becomes the prize pupil when Miss Minchen discovers how incredibly wealthy her father is. Sara and her father are unusually close because her mother died when she was very young and he treats her as a little princess. Fortunately, she has been also taught to behave like a princess and to be patient, kind, good natured and polite.

Sara needs all of those attributes when it is found that her father has invested all of his money in diamond mines in South Africa and they have failed. Not only that, but he has died from a brain fever brought on by the devastating news. Miss Minchen finds out the new status of her pupil and promptly makes a drudge of her. This is really where the story begins. Sara has been well brought up and has a wonderfully vivid imagination and these things help her to endure her wretched life. She has always been kind to the little scullery maid and now finds her a friend and helper.

One of the nicest things about this book is the way it encourages reading and imaginative play as well as good manners and real integrity. Sara has to find ways to deal with her reduced circumstances without becoming bitter or giving up. If you have seen the Shirley Temple movie or one of the other versions, you may be surprised at just how much Hollywood has changed this delightful book.



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Lucy Rose: Busy Like You Can't Believe

Lucy Rose: Busy Like You Can't Believe (Yearling Books by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book in the series and is just as delightful as the first three. We see Lucy Rose again her engaging and hilarious self. She desperately wants to be Annie at the play, but this is problematic when her worst enemy gets the part. Lucy Rose is given a much better part, but she doesn't see it at the time.

Added to this is her concern that her mother is dating. Like almost every child of divorce, Lucy Rose has dreams that her parents will get together again and she is horrified when she listens in on a telephone call that makes her think that her mother has a boyfriend.

This is an excellent book for children of divorce. In fact, it would be great if it were required reading for their parents. Lucy Rose's parents bend over backward to accomodate each other for the sake of Lucy Rose and the grandparents do the same. Lucy Rose calls her father when she wants and her mother is always respectful of her love for her father. Even for adults, this book is good.


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Lucy Rose: Working Myself to Pieces and Bits

Lucy Rose: Working Myself to Pieces and Bits by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Rose has one big problem in school and she is called Ashley...the same Ashley who tried to spoil her Parks and Rec. summer. She's a word-thief and she tries to be better than Lucy Rose in everything, which Lucy Rose isn't taking lying down.

But that isn't her only job. The McBees are opening a bakery and Lucy Rose has to come up with some ideas to earn money and get the bakery decorated without costing money...it isn't easy and can keep a girl on her toes!

On top of everything else, she and Jonique have a job at a retirement home calling Bingo. How did they get the job and what do they learn there? Just read on about the adventures of this delightful little hurricane.


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Lucy Rose: Big on Plans

Lucy Rose: Big on Plans by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lucy Rose and her best friend, Jonique, have a lot to do in the summer. They are both going to Parks and Rec. where Lucy desperately wants to make a lanyard, but Parks and Rec has a fly in the ointment called Ashley. Ashley looks down her nose at Lucy Rose and makes fun of her. She goes out of her way to be nasty and Lucy Rose doesn't understand it.

She also has a few more things to do this summer. She has to get rid of the Squirrels in her grandparents yard because they are eating all the fruit an Madam can't make jam. But the biggest thing she has to do is get her parents back together. If she could just think of the right thing to do.



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Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me

Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Rose could be Junie B. Jones in 3rd grade. She has the same kind of spunk and good intentions that tend to go awry. She is an "individual" and things are rarely boring around her.

Her parents are separated and she has left Michigan for Washington, DC where she lives very close to her grandparents. While she enjoys her grandparents, and they seem to be of the very best sort for an independent little girl, she doesn't look forward to a new school, especially when the one student she meets is a boy she dislikes thoroughly.

This book is hilarious and I fell in love with Lucy Rose and her whole family. Her parents are very supportive of her and while they are separated, they both show their love for Lucy Rose by the way they treat each other. This is a great book!


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Pinnochio

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We are all so used to the Disney version of Pinocchio that it is startling to read the original version. While there are differences, there is enough similarity to the original for everyone but the purist. Pinnochio has more adventures and meets more people in the original, but he is still the same little disobedient, gullible puppet. We read this as a homeschool book and really enjoyed it.

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Heidi

Heidi by Johanna Spyri


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this to audition the next book for my granddaughter's homeschool. This is not the translation I read, but it is just as delightful as it was so many years ago. Five year old Heidi has been brought up the mountain by her aunt to be cared for by her curmudgeon grandfather. He sees his duty and takes the child in. She is so delightful, and so appreciative of her splendid new Alpine home that he comes to love her, as do the rest of the people in her new world. She goes to the Alpine pastures with Peter the goatherd and visits his blind grandmother. All is idyllic when Dete comes back for Heidi and takes her to Hamburg to live with a wealthy gentleman to be a companion for his invalid daughter. Clara is delighted with Heidi and all her madcap adventures, but Heidi is so homesick, she becomes physically ill. She is returned to the Alps and the story comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

Today this unsophisticated story with all it's emphasis on morality and duty seems old fashioned, but I realized how much has been left out of modern day's children who get their role models on TV from characters like the Simpsons. Children need this kind of simple devotion to God, duty and the benefits of leading a faithful and good life. Sure there are people like the Simpsons, but why hold them up as an example? There is so much to be learned by these old tales of virtue rewarded and happy endings.

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Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this to audition a book for my grandson's homeschool literature lesson. As I child, I loved this book, although I probably got lost in the chapters where boys from the town skate to Haarlem and go to the museums and churches. I found this to be a plus for homeschool lessons since I was able to find many of these places and works of art on the internet which I can also use for lessons.

Hans and his sister, Gretel, are very poor. Their father, a sluice gate tender, was injured on the job and has been witless ever since. At times he is very cruel, although they recognize that he does not know what he is doing. Hans and Gretel lead lives filled with work and their only pleasure is skating on the frozen canal in their makeshift skates Hans has made out of wood. When news of a prize of silver skates is to be awarded in a race, they are sorry that they would never be able to win in their old skates.

Their poverty is made all the more difficult because there is a lot of money hidden some place in or around the house, but the location is locked in the addled brain of their father. He did something with the money just before he went out to work on the night he was injured. Hans and Gretel are forced to do whatever work they can find to help support them.

One of the things that makes the book interesting is the social commentary in the book. Several of the boys and girls in town are mentioned and much is made of either their character flaws or virtues. While simplistic on the surface, the characterization is good. One if the wealthy girls in town stands out because she recognizes her good fortune and arranges for both Hans and his sister to have metal skates.

When the book gets to the final race, it is almost an afterthought. The true natures of many of the characters have been displayed and the story ends in a satisfactory manner.

I did not realize the Mary Mapes Dodge went on the be the editor of the famous "St. Nicholas Magazine" which featured stories by classical children's author such as Mark Twain, Joel Chandler Harris, Rudyard Kipling and many others. We just happened to have Henry Steele Commanger's anthology of the magazine and I found it to be a great complement to the lessons on this book.

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The Polar Express

The Polar Express by Chris VanAllsburg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book for both children and adults. It's all about a cynical little boy who is not sure he believes in Santa or Christmas. He takes a ride on the Polar Express, meets two special friends and gets a special gift from Santa.


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Summerland

Summerland by Michael Chabon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book but the plot was convoluted at times. The story is about Ethan Feld who doesn't seem to fit in anywhere and his friend, Jennifer T. Rideout. Both kids are struggling with not belonging, especially in their families. They are on a losing baseball team and while Jennifer is good at baseball, Ethan just wants to quit. Jennifer, however, won't let him. In another dimension is a faerie world that is desperate for a champion, but what they get is Ethan. All of the action brings these two worlds together in a dramatic ending.



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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this book we see our three heros as teenagers, and they really are! I think they are bickering and quarreling through the whole book! I found it annoying, but so totally accurate for their age that it made me smile. They are constantly at cross purposes and cross with each other. In this book, the writing takes a much darker turn and younger kids who enjoyed the first four books may find this one a little too dark and dangerous.

The story starts with Ron and Hermoine knowing about the Order of the Phoenix and Harry being kept in the dark. The problem is that Voldemort is back and he wants to kill Harry. The Order members know how much danger Harry is in and they want to protect him. The Ministry of Magic is no help because they are determined to believe that Voldemort is not back despite all the evidence.

Voldemort also wants the prophecy concerning Harry Potter which is held at the Ministry of Magic down a dark corridor. Harry is getting glimpses of what Voldemort sees as he works his evil. This is helpful when the snake, Nagini, bites Mr. Weasley and leaves him is dying. Harry is able to alert Professor Dumbledore and someone is at the Ministery of Magic immediately. Since Harry is being kept out of a lot of the business of the Order, he is determined to find the prophecy himself.

The best part of this book is Delores Umbridge. The Ministry of Magic is trying to squelch all rumors that Voldemort has returned and so they install Umbridge as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. The Ministry doesn't believe the children should actually practice defensive spells because there is no need. They believe that the students should read carefully edited text books about dark arts in the past. Delores, however, in her fluffy pink everything, is just pure evil. She's a villan you love to hate. Every time Harry and crew do something, she has poor old Filch hammer up another decree on the wall. Eventually, just about everything is banned, but the kids, of course, have found a way around the rules.

(Just a little note, the casting in the movie for the part of Delores Umbridge, I think, was wrong. It would have been better to cast someone whose character was evil posing as someone who is good rather than the other way around. Delores doesn't ring true until you have seen the movie a couple of times and have already identified with her as an evil person.)


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