Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving

'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This little book is a little politically correct, but it's cute.  Little kids go on a school trip to a poultry farm and found that they were all to be killed for Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids smuggle the turkeys home to try to save them.  It may raise more questions than it answers for little kids, so be ready for questions.


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My rating: 4">http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/569951976">4 of 5 stars


This was a very interesting book although it seemed to drag at some points.  I enjoyed learning more about Native Americans and the early missionaries.  My grandmother had a cousin and uncle who both worked with Indians as an early missionary and I thought this book was much more like their experiences as contemporary fiction which deals with the missionary period.

I thought the characterization was especially good and I felt as if I knew many of the people.  The author was able to portray the characters as complex people and not a stereotype.



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Cody Posey

I have been following the trial of Cody Posey, a boy who killed his parents and sister when he was 14. This boy has had more trauma that most adults would have by age 70! His mother was killed in an accident when he was present. His grandfather killed his grandmother and abused his own children. Cody was afraid of his father, who was abusive and whose rights had been terminated, and then ended up having to go and live with him. He lived on the isolated New Mexico ranch of Sam Donalson and his father was free to treat him in whatever way he wanted. Cody couldn't just go to a neighbor for help. On the night before he exploded in violence, Cody was burned with a some kind of torch when he refused his father's demand that he have sex with his step mother.

It is always hard to know the truth about a situation like this, but the community has been solidly behind Cody, even the father and stepmother of his half-sister whom he killed. They feel that he is a good kid who finally was pushed over the edge and unfortunately his step-sister was caught up in his explosion. The only ones who seemed to be against Cody were the prosecutor and his father's family. And unfortunately, that family is filled with years of abuse, suicide and mental health problems. I was especially saddened by the vindictiveness of Cody's uncle and it gave me some insight into Cody's father.

Cody sought relief from Social Services and the police and they failed him. Ranch hands, teachers and neighbors saw some of what was going on and yet they couldn't help him. No one seemed to be able to do anything to help this boy, but at least the community took responsibility for their failure and didn't turn against him when he exploded under the pressure.

I watched the proceedings on Court TV and, while they usually try to remain neutral, in this case it was easy to see that they were very sympathetic to Cody. The boy was convicted of manslaughter for the father, second degree murder for the stepmother and first degree murder for the sister and I believe this was just. The judge felt that the circumstances of the case demanded that he be sentenced as a juvenile and he will be getting help from a treatment center until he is 21. It was important to note that the treatment center had dealt with him when he was first incarcerated and felt like he was amenable to treatment and agreed to treat him after his sentencing.

Cody's lawyer, Gary Mitchell, did a magnificent job in representing this boy. He was the public defender and he not only represented him, but he championed him. In many ways he played the role of the father Cody never had. I know that lawyers aren't supposed to get emotionally involved with their clients, but this was a situation in which it was entirely warranted. When he first took on the case, members of the community called him and told him that Cody was a good kid and to fight for him. He could not have done better.

What do I think? The prosecutor approached this trial as if Cody was a mass murderer. She said he would kill again. I think she made a gross error in portraying him this way. I used to be a teacher and educational evaluator for the Department of Juvenile corrections and my experience tells me that an emotionally disturbed child who explodes and kills his family is very different from a child who kills a classmate, neighbor or especially a stranger. The former kills in response to an overwhelming and emotional situation in which he is trapped and sees no other way out. He killed the people who were making the situation unbearable. He is unlikely to ever be in that situation again, especially as he will never be so young and have so few options. The latter have usually had a track record of acting out and a pattern of juvenile delinquency.

As you deal with these children on a day to day basis you see a huge difference in the two types. Street children usually have "all day long, every day" problems with society. They are only a spark away from acting out behavior. The children we saw who were like Cody were generally respectful and compliant. For the most part, they are delightful to deal with because they have learned to not make trouble as a way of survival. They usually want desperately to please. In fact, the problem with a kid like Cody is to get them to react when things really bother them. Every thing I saw in Cody via the trial indicates that this is the case with him.

I feel that the decision was the only fair one. He was a child and he acted like a child, yet his actions did result in the death of 3 people. He didn't have a lot of ways available to cope. Teens are at risk for suicide for the same reason. They have no perspective. They can't believe that the future will be better. They think they will feel this way forever and they see no hope. Cody could have just as easily killed himself.

I think Cody has the support of family and friends and his community. He will be getting psychological treatment at a treatment facility which feels that he can be helped and has a plan for him. On top of dealing with all that brought him to the point of explosion, Cody will have to deal with what he has done. It doesn't surprise me that he has mixed feelings about his family. I have seen kids that were terribly abused cry when their abusive parents didn't come to visit them. He will especially miss his stepsister and I imagine that will haunt him more than the rest. That this will all haunt him is inevitable. He will need lots of therapy to come to grips with it and even if he can begin to forgive himself, he still will be haunted by what he did. I'm just glad that the state of New Mexico didn't fail him and then fail him again by treating him as an adult.

Yellow Journalism

This article by Mark Tapscott raises some interesting points about the media of today. So many of the horrifying stories about the lawlessness mayhem in New Orleans have proved to be untrue. Some of them, such as the reports of people firing at the rescue personnel, have even resulted in deaths. This is especially true of the reports designed to take cheap shots at the government. We all watched news briefings where the press hounded the government with negative comments while most of us were aching for real information that would tell us what was happening and how we could help.


The recent scandals concerning the news media are indicative of the decline in journalism. Or perhaps it is a throwback to the yellow journalism. I picked up this well written description of this practice:

The Sensational Beginnings of Yellow Journalism

In 1898, newspapers provided the major source of news in America. At this time, it was common practice for a newspaper to report the editor's interpretation of the news rather than objective journalism. If the information reported was inaccurate or biased, the American public had little means for verification. With this sort of influence, the newspapers wielded much political power. In order to increase circulation, the publishers of these papers often exploited their position by sponsoring a flamboyant and irresponsible approach to news reporting that became known as "yellow journalism." Though the term was originally coined to describe the journalistic practices of Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst proved himself worthy of the title. Today, it is his name that is synonymous with "yellow journalism."

Does this sound familiar? In case you have been in the Himalayas, there was the fabrications by Jayson Blaire and and the misuse of stringers and interns by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg in 2003. Then there was the situation which led to the early retirement of Dan Rather; a case of his desire to find anything that would cast the President in a bad light. Rather’s bias against the Bush family goes back to the presidency of George Bush, Sr. I will never forget Rather’s blatent rudeness during the debates.

After the irregularities concerning plagiarism and fabrication in 2003, several editors of large newspaper did some investigating and issued memo's to staff to change policy. "The concerns (improper reporting) have even reached the executive suite. Dow Jones CEO Peter Kann, who oversees the Wall Street Journal, said in a memo: "Any and every editor up the line in our editing process has the right -- and the responsibility -- to question sourcing." Kann also cited many potential misdemeanors well short of the crimes of plagiarism and fabrication. . . . I am thinking here of the anonymous negative quote questioning someone's character; the unreturnable post-office-closing phone call that permits a publication to say 'unavailable for comment'; the closed mind to an inconvenient new fact that doesn't fit a story line; the loaded adjective where no adjective is needed; the analysis that edges across the line to personal opinion"

Look at the piece by Mark Tapscott and see if you think things have improved. Fortunately, we are not in the position for the readers of 1898. We have the Internet. We can go back and look, for example, at the speeches of our politicians and find the quotes of President Clinton and many other prominent Democrats concerning Sadam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction. We can hear how they urged the military action that they decry today. We can catch John Kerry in all of his flip-flops and even his time served in Vietnam.

I spend a lot more time getting my news today. I like the Internet because I can go right to the source. I think a lot of reporters have forgotten what it means to simply report the news and not create it, so I am glad that I have another option, but what a shame for a once noble profession.

13 year old babysitter charged in death of toddler. Who is to blame?

This is a hard one. It's a tragedy all around.

A 13-year-old babysitter accused in the death of a toddler claims she was simply trying to calm the child by "wiggling" her, but prosecutors say Ashley Howes murdered Freya Garden in a manner consistent with shaken-baby syndrome.

King County prosecutors say the teen confessed in a police interview to shaking the fussy 19-month-old girl at least twice while babysitting her and her 5-year-old sister.

But defense attorney Bryan Hershman told Court TV that his client never admitted to harming Freya and that the statement does not amount to a confession.

Almost 10 months following the Jan. 16 incident, a Seattle juvenile court judge will begin deciding next week whose version is more believable.

Between Bad and Worse

I haven't seen any more information on the previous article I copied from NewsMax. I wonder if it truly happened? It smells a little fishy to me as well as some other bloggers. See here Even if it isn't true, it brings up some interesting points.

What does a person do when faced with such a choice? Is there a "right" way to choose? What would I do? That's another problem that a disaster like Katrina brings to light. How do you know that you will make the right choice in an emergency situation?

A lawyer probably would say it was safest to simply let the terminal patients die in fear and agony. Isn't it sad that in this era of lawsuits we have to think about being sued when faced with such a choice? Someone becomes a doctor because he or she wants to alleviate suffering. To allow a terminal patient to die in such a cruel way goes against everything the profession stands for.

Does our legal system allow for such impossible choices? I don't have much confidence in our courts anymore. A doctor could just as easily be sued for leaving the patients to die in agony without providing for their relief. If this situation really happened, I bet some lawyer read about it and started looking for a potential plaintiff.

Doctors: Hurricane Katrina Forced Us to Kill Patients

Is this really what happened or just another bit of misinformation or exaggeration from the early days of Katrina?

Doctors: Hurricane Katrina Forced Us to Kill Patients
NewsMax.com
Monday, Sept. 12, 2005

Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leave them behind to die in agony as they evacuated hospitals, according to a shocking report in the respected British newspaper the Daily Mail.

One emergency official who spoke on the record, William "Forest" McQueen, told the Mail: "Those who had no chance of making it were given a lot of morphine and lain down in a dark place to die."

McQueen, a utility manager for the town of Abita Springs near New Orleans, told relatives that patients had been "put down," saying medical personnel "injected them, but nurses stayed with them until they died."

The Mail did not name the other members of the medical staff interviewed by the newspaper in order to protect their identities. Euthanasia is illegal in Louisiana.

One doctor said: "I didn't know if I was doing the right thing. But I did not have time. I had to make snap decisions, under the most appalling circumstances, and I did what I thought was right.

"I injected morphine into those patients who were dying and in agony. If the first dose was not enough, I gave a double dose. And at night I prayed to God to have mercy on my soul.

"This was not murder. This was compassion. I had cancer patients who were in agony."

The doctor said medical staffers divided patients into three categories: those who were medically fit enough to survive, those who needed urgent care, and the dying, the Mail reported.

"It came down to giving people the basic human right to die with dignity," said the doctor.

"There were patients with ‘Do Not Resuscitate' signs. Under normal circumstances, some could have lasted several days. But when the power went out, we had nothing.

"Some of the very sick became distressed. We tried to make them as comfortable as possible.

"You have to understand, these people were going to die anyway." According to the Mail, the confessions of the medical staff "are an indictment of the appalling failure of American authorities to help those in desperate need after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city."

New Orleans again...leadership

I saw this Quote by Neil S. Kavanaugh in the "Northside Journal."

"For generations we have elected men and women based on what they say they will give us, not on their leadership ability." It's nice to see something in print that I believe is the root of the problem, not only in Louisiana, but in all or our government. I've been saying it since President Clinton was running for President. Remember Jennifer Flowers, the state troopers and all the allegations? A much quoted sentiment was that Clinton's private behavior was not important. We were told that only his political record mattered. Everything in me screamed, "NO!" Integrity and leadership are the MOST important qualities in a candidate.

Government is incredibly complex. Candidates may promise all sorts of things and they may be entirely sincere, but when they are actually on the job, things are a lot more complicated. That is why a lot of well meaning politicians end up not being able to deliver on campaign promises. They learn that they have to compromise and play the game if they want to see ANY of their ideals realized. We elect politicians because we want the things they promise, but what is the difference between a politician who does his or her best to be true to their consistency and one who simply promises whatever they think the voters want to hear? For example, I recently read an article saying that Hillary Clinton tried to join the Marines. Hmmm...

I'm going out on a limb and saying that integrity and leadership are just about all that matters in an elected position. "Just about" is the operative phrase. That is, provided that the politician knows how to surround himself or herself with talented people who know what they are doing and have the same kind of integrity AND the politician knows how to delegate and accept advice. If I vote for someone who has this type of character and skills, I can be confident that the best is being done for all of us. I've seen this time and time again in local politics. It is a little easier to see on the local level. I'm a great writer of letters to my elected officials. I always love it when they either call or write back to me with the reasons they felt they had to vote they way they did. Even if I disagree, I admire honesty, integrity and leadership. I can have confidence in that kind of person.

So what happened in Louisiana? There has been an entrenched bankruptcy of quality government for a long time. Don't blame the politicians entirely. It's been said that most people get the kind of government they deserve. That is a huge problem in government today. We have a staggering Federal debt and yet people don't want to vote for a politician who says that they will cut programs that effect us. Right now the Federal government is promising the hurricane victims just about anything they want. Is anyone asking if we can afford it? Who is going to pay for this? Why is this hurricane so different? One man, interviewed by FOX, was contemptuous of the money he had been given by the government. He wanted the government to just give victims $20,000 each and let them get on with their lives. So, we are supposed to give him $20,000 because his ancestors came on a slave ship and he chose to live below sea level protected by a levee system that ought to scare just about anyone? Look at the picture. The man has his arm around a white woman and it's so normal it took me a minute or so to catch on to the caption under the picture. We've come a long way from that slave ship.

I live on a barrier island in Florida. I pay a lot for insurance. I pay more for flood insurance. It has never occurred to me that the government should pay me damages because I chose to live here. The people of the United States don't owe me any thing except maybe basic emergency relief. If I will only vote for people who promise to take care of me so that I won't have to take care of myself, then shame on me.

We have got to start electing politicians that will do what is best for this country even if it means giving up our personal gravy train. We have got to give up this idea of "entitlements." We have to elect officials who act responsibly doing hard things like fixing levees, highways and other necessary things that should be the business of government and not pretty things that put money in the pockets of our friends. We have to help our indigent population with programs that require that they help themselves.

We have to look at the character of our candidates and vote for people who will be responsible with the money we pay with our taxes. Louisiana should be a wake-up call for all of us. The Louisiana government gambled and lost. They broke faith with their people because they didn't do the most important thing that government is charged with. They didn't look out for their citizens and keep them safe and they are compounding the lack of leadership by blaming others for their own shortcomings.

On New Orleans

I hate all the blaming! We've all had trying times and wished in retrospect we had done some things differently. Some laws and policies need to be changed, but there is another time for that. I don't think it ever occurred to any of us that so many people would not have evacuated. They've rescued 10,000 people and there are still more! I also didn't realize that there were so many poor, old and elderly who couldn't evacuate. In retrospect, they should have had busses to take the people out before the hurricane, but who knew? I don't think any of us in hurricane areas will make that mistake again. This is the first time a hurricane has hit an area so urban and highly populated. Andrew went through and we all breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't the heart of Miami or New York or Washington, DC. Our nation's capitol would be an even worse disaster. It is a city of the powerful and the poor. What about the museums? It would be a mess. Who could think of all the variables?

All that blaming keeps me from focusing on all the wonderful things that people have done. I think we should all be so proud of what lengths American people have gone to to help. Focus on Houston and her open arms. Focus on the 15 year old boy who commandeered a bus and drove old people and babies to Houston. Focus on what happened when the full force of the US Government stepped in. Focus on what neighboring states have done. Focus on the prayers and tears of a nation. The outpouring of help is something our nation can be proud of and the grippers and blamers are taking that away from us. When did it get to be this way? I don't remember this kind of second guessing during Agnes, Camille or Gilbert.

I have been watching FOX almost non-stop and I have seen members of the press so effected by what they have seen that they were nearly in tears; and I have seen them doing something about it. So much can happen when we don't take time out to blame. We're all angry about a lot of things that happened or didn't happen, but we knew it was going to be a catastrophic disaster and that is part of what catastrophe means. I'm not aiming this at any of the exhausted, over-stressed people who are in the middle of all this, or the people who are trying to help them. When things go this wrong, we sometimes need people to lash out at. I am aiming it at politicians or special interest groups who take time in a press conference to stir up trouble instead of finding out what else needs to be done. They write articles about everything they see is wrong...even as far fetched as global warming (what caused Galveston or Camille or Gilbert?) when they could use the power of the press to list what we can do in our communities to help. We should all be on the same side...the side of the victims.

I think this is a wake-up call for all of us. It could be called a dress-rehearsal. When the crisis is over and we can sit back and look at what has happened the Mayors, Governors and the Federal agencies should get together and critique the operation. Blaming will get us nowhere. To be very blunt, the Democrats and liberal media who are taking partisan jabs at President Bush and the government are making fools of themselves. Blaming President Bush for the hurricane makes them look like idiots. Did they flunk General Science in high school? Scientists who study hurricanes say that this is just part of a regular cycle. We've actually been blessed with very few hurricanes between 1975 and 1995, but there were plenty of hurricanes in the decades before 1975. Florida suffered from serious drought for several years and the reason was that we didn't have enough hurricanes to replenish the aquifer.

It's embarrassing. Years ago I was a Democrat, but now I am ashamed of the party. I wouldn't want people to know that I am more interested in partisan politics than the plight of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. This disaster needs all of our attention and we should all take note of the people who are sitting back and criticizing instead of helping. I know I am. I want to be a part of a government which is not afraid to look at something like this and say that this response was "unacceptable" and not be afraid to make it right. I am in awe of what was done in 24 hours and I am very proud of it. I hope that the people overseas ARE watching. They saw a situation that got terribly out of hand including the lawlessness and today, in only 24 hours they saw a country rise to meet the challenge in an unbelievable way.

Stop for just a minute and think about what happened in perspective. An area the size of England suffered a double catastrophe...devastation from a strong category 4 hurricane and then the failure of the levee system in New Orleans flooding the poorest sections of the city where about 12,000 residents didn't follow the warning to evacuate. The situation was so dire yesterday that there were questions about ever being able take this city back. In 24 hours incredible progress was made. The Convention Center and the Superdome were evacuated. Lawlessness was brought under control and people were transferred to places where good people were waiting to help them. All of the sudden there is a feeling of empowerment. We can do this. We are Americans. The ones who have will help the ones who have lost everything. We are at our best in times like this. I'd like to see any other country that could have done better.

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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The Red Tent

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood - the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah - the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

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The Sherwood Ring

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my all time favorite books. I finally managed to get a copy when it came back in print. It is the story of a young woman who comes to spend the summer with her uncle in the old Revolutionary home which is also populated with a number of ghosts. She has a relationship with the ghosts and a young man she meets on her way to the house. It is a delightful book! While it isn't quite as exciting as it was when I first read it about 45 years ago, it is still a great story.


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Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I felt really betrayed with this book in several ways.

1. The ending is all wrong. The reader is led down one path and is waiting for the ending to resolve all the false clues and suddenly, from left field, comes the perpetrator.

2. The ending is inconsistent with what you know about the characters. I hate this. If people are going to act in a psychotic way, there are clues to their behavior in everyday life. On the surface, sociopaths can fool a lot of people, but in reality, there are always signs and eventually the people around then feel uneasy. Something is not right. Serial killers are usually dysfunctional individuals who are most frequently loners. Brown ignores this and gives us a murderer that is not plausible.

3. The author has a hidden agenda and betrays the reader with it. This, I think, bothered me the most. Until the end, I thought that Brown wrote with compassion and understanding, but in the end he tries to manipulate the reader.

4. The numerous false leads are either inadequately explained or simply don't exist. A writer, no matter how thrilling the middle chapters of his book are, doesn't get a free ride in the last chapter. Things need to be explained, clues need to be sorted out and resolved. Characters need to burst forth in the clothing they have been wearing throughout the novel, not a new and bizarre garb. If it has been a costume, the reader needs to be able to see where he was mislead, and it has to make sense.

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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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The Coffin Quilt: The Feud Between the Hatfields and the McCoys

The Coffin Quilt: The Feud Between the Hatfields and the McCoys by Ann Rinaldi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was excellent. The feud is the background to the story of young Roseanna McCoy who meets and falls in love with Johnse Hatfield. It is told by Fanny McCoy who understand the futility of the feud an its terrible impact on everyone.

The tragedy of the relationship is made more poignant because of the coffin quilt Roseanna works on to preserve the memory of family who are killed over the feud. Coffin quilts were made in the Appalachian Mountains and contained a graveyard in the center of the quilt and an outer border of coffins. When a person is born or married into the family, a coffin with his or her name on it is appliqued on the outer border. When they die, the coffin is moved into the graveyard in the center.

Coffin Quilt: http://folkwaysnotebook.blogspot.com/...

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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It seems like this book started a whole new genre in Southern writing. It's the South at it's best and worst. It is sleepy little towns at their best and worst.

The book is about two women, Ninny whom Evelyn, who meets in a nursing home while her husband visits with his mother. Ninny tells about the town she was raised in and various threads weave in and out. Sometimes the book is confusing and hard to keep in order, but I remember sitting outside on the porch in Mississippi and listen to my family tell stories and it seemed like they went just this way. As a child, I did not want to interrupt to have a detail clarified because someone would notice that it was way past my bedtime, or I had something else I should be doing, or worst of all, what they were discussing wasn't a subject I should have been listening to.

The old story is about Idgie and Ruth who run the Whistle Stop Cafe and raise a boy together. It isn't totally clear to the town if it is a lesbian relationship but it is just accepted in Whistle Stop. I don't see any inconsistency with it in the book because the old South has always been very tolerant of people who might be called characters.

Idgie idolized Buddy Threadgood and when he was killed, something happened to her. She was always a tomboy, but she became wild and nothing civilized her until Ruth came one summer to teach Vacation Bible School.

As Ninny tells the tale to Evelyn, we also see a change in her. She starts taking hormones for menopause and selling Mary Kay cosmeticis. It is as if she wakes up and begins to be a person. While the book was better than the movie, the one scene where Kathy Bates (Evelyn) rams a young woman's car is absolutely priceless and worth seeing the movie for.


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Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy

Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy by Carl R. Sams II
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most beautiful children's books I've ever seen. I met the authors at an ALA conference the year this was published and the authors told us how much fun they had hanging out with the snowman and photographing the animals that came up to see it and sometimes take a nibble. I have no idea how many copies I have given as gifts to little ones I know. It's a wonderful gift.

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The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I studied this in college and enjoyed it even though we had to read it in a week!  I loved the characters and they have always seemed as if they really existed to me.  Tom Jones is like one of Dickens' characters.  He's a beloved rascal.  I intend to read this one again after all these years and see how it looks to a far more adult mind.


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