Summer Reading 2009 (ongoing)

[Jane]

Cool! I'll have to read it!

[Edward]

Hey I haven't been here in forever but I'd like to post this book review I recently wrote for The Island of Dr. Moreau. It's a cute novel ...

I just wanted to emphasize this delightful literary observation.
Oliver, it's always a pleasure to read your book reviews, but this is definitely the first time I have ever heard anybody describe The Island of Dr. Moreau as a "cute novel."

[Oliver]

No problem. Here's two more about Mary Poppins and I'm glad to say that they are my first negative reviews (kinda).

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers is the story of a beloved nanny and the magical adventures that seem to follow wherever she goes. Travers wrote several books about Mary Poppins. In the first book, we are introduced to the Banks family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Banks and their four children: Jane, Michael, John and Barbara. John and Barbara are the baby twins. After their nanny quits, Mary Poppins appears seemingly out of nowhere to become the new nanny. Poppins turns out to be much different than any other nanny they had known before.

The children realize right away that whenever Mary Poppins is around, amazing things happen. I enjoyed reading about their unusual experiences. One of my favorite characters is Admiral Boom. He yells out random nautical phrases like “Land ho!” and “Heave away there!” I also enjoyed a chapter called “Laughing Gas,” in which Mr. Wigg (also known as Uncle Albert) fills with laughing gas and elevates in the air when he loses control of his laughter. For some reason, Mr. Wigg finds it especially difficult to control his laughter on Fridays, and when his birthday falls on a Friday he floats like a balloon.

This book is filled with many other quirky and amusing episodes. However, one thing that surprised me was the personality of Mary Poppins herself. She apparently has a vanity problem, because she always seems to admire herself when she sees her reflection. I was also taken aback by the manner in which Mary Poppins treats the children.

For example, we read: “’Ask him. He knows—Mr. Know-All!’ said Mary Poppins, nodding her head scornfully at Michael.”

As another example, we read: “’Oh, really? I thought it was the other way round,’ said Mary Poppins with a scornful laugh.”

Yet another example of her attitude toward the children: “Mary Poppins turned and regarded him with something like disgust.”

There are many other examples of this kind of behavior by Mary Poppins. She is not always mean-spirited toward the children, and she seems to have their best interests at heart. I was just surprised to read about her snapping at the children from time to time. Still, by the end of the book, the children seem to love her (for some reason).

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. There were many humorous and delightful elements to the story. The book is also full of surprises, especially when it comes to the occasional rude or even scornful remark by Mary Poppins. If you have seen the 1964 Disney movie, then you will be surprised by the differences. I would say that the Mary Poppins character is much more gentle-hearted in the movie than in the book. In spite of that, I would recommend this book, as well as its sequels.

Mary Poppins Comes Back by P. L. Travers is the sequel to Mary Poppins. The story picks up just a few months from when the original book left off. The Banks’ house is in complete disarray. Mary Poppins had deserted the family without notice. They had hired other nurses to take Poppins’ place, but none of them lasted long. One nurse, for instance, had been spat at by young Michael Banks and quit immediately. Michael fought with his sister Jane, little twins John and Barbara quarreled, the kitchen flue caught fire, the cherry trees were devasted by frost, and so on. Mrs. Banks does not know what to do. In despair, she sends the four children to the park so she can have some peace at home. Jane and Michael decide to fly a kite to entertain John and Barbara. As they pull the kite back in, to their astonishment, they see Mary Poppins herself holding the string and gliding down with the kite.

Within moments, Mary Poppins is already ordering the children around. Much like the original book, Poppins assumes a stern and haughty attitude. However, the children enjoy many new adventures in this sequel. I enjoyed reading about their magical ability to fly above the park holding just one balloon each. I also liked reading about the day they met an interesting man named Mr. Turvy. The day happened to be the second Monday of the month. Every second Monday, mysterious things happen to Mr. Turvy. He flips upside-down, he finds himself outside when he wants to be inside, and he even feels sad though he normally feels happy. This quirky episode is strange but I found it to be quite amusing.

Mary Poppins is as scornful as ever in this book. She displays a short temper and even intimidates the children. On one occasion, for example, we read: “Mary Poppins, in her fury, seemed to have grown to twice her usual size. She hovered over him in her nightgown, huge and angry, waiting for him to reply.” Poppins also proves to be quite vain. For example, as she passed by a glass window, “Mary Poppins gave a little conceited nod to her reflection and hurried on.” She also seems to be dishonest with the children. After almost every adventure, Poppins denies that she had anything to do with it or that it even happened at all.

I began to wonder if all the tumult in the Banks’ household was caused by Mary Poppins herself, so that the family would appreciate her more when their situation magically improved. Whether or not my conspiracy theory is correct, everyone still seems to love Mary Poppins by the end of the story. Despite her periodic rude comments to the children, they seem to enjoy her company as much as ever. The main reason for this may be that many exciting and delightful adventures seem to follow Mary Poppins wherever she goes. These adventures make the book charming to read, if you can look past Mary Poppins’ less-than-perfect attitude and behavior toward the children.

[Jane]

That's a great review! Thanks!

[Jane]

I just finished reading Summer of Lost and Found and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. They are both very good books! The Vanderbeekers is a very sweet and interesting book to read! It takes place at Christmas time, but can be read at any time! The other book has a fun plot twist at the end! Anyways! I would definitely recommend both of them!

[Jane]

I've been reading non-fiction, interior design books recently. So I would like to share a couple that I've read! The first one is called Small Space Style, By: Whitney Leigh Morris. This is probably my favorite out of the two. It is actually really interesting and helpful. I also like the style of the interior design in this book. This book made me want to just clean EVERYTHING! The second interior design book I read is called Home Body, By: Joanna Gaines. This one is pretty interesting because she doesn't just talk about like the interior designing per say. But making it more like make this room important for your family to grow up in, reach every room's potential, don't just do it for looks; make sure it has a story, and that kind of thing. It also has lots of different varieties of styles in it. It also may seem very, very thick. But it's mostly just pictures and small paragraphs. There are a couple parts that are long though. Anyway, that is what I've been reading recently!



Here's one of them, the other one was giant so I didn't put that one on.

[Tuly]

Thank you Jane - I will check out some of those books. I have been reading a lot of non fiction books too. Thanks to my Read More app it helps me keep track of what I'm reading and keeps highlights for me.

1. Faith Is Not Blind by Bruce and Marie Hafen - This is a lovely book about the testimony of Jesus Christ by two authors that i admire.

2. So Said Ben by Michael McCurdy - This technically would be a children's book. It's a beautifully illustrated book by McCurdy on Ben Franklin's famous quotes.

3..A Christ-centered Christmas - by Emily Freeman - Simply written book on preparing for Christmas.

4. Darwin and the True Story of the Dinosaurs by Luca Novelli - One of the people I tutor recommended this book to me. If you like dinosaurs you might find this book interesting.

5. Creating the Artful Home: the Aesthetic Movement by Karen Zukowski - The Aesthetic Movement in America lasted just a few decades (1870-1900), and served mainly as a bridge between the high Victorian sensibility and the radical shift to the Arts & Crafts style. Great photographs.

6. Shepherds Abiding - by Jan Karon - I love the Mitford series by Karon. This one is charming.

7. First; The Life and Faith of Emma Smith by Jennifer Reeder - Short biography of Emma Smith and well documented.

8. The Magician's Nephew by Kate DiCamillo - I love DiCamillo's books. This one is a lovely story of a young boy looking for his sister.

9. Finding Meaning; The Sixth Stage of Grief by David Kessler - I absolutely loved this book. It is a well written book about dealing with grief. In Finding Meaning, Kessler shares the insights, collective wisdom, and powerful tools that will help those experiencing loss.

[Jane]

I just barely finished a book called Annie's Life in Lists and it was pretty good. The cool thing about this book is it is literally a story made from lists! The main character is kind of the writer in this book. I recommend this! Another book I finished around the same time was The One and Only Bob, this was also good and it is the sequel to the Newbery Award winning book; The One and Only Ivan. I really liked it!

[Jane]

For school I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird and just last night I finished it. I liked this book a lot! We talked about foils between characters in class and there are some interesting foils we talked about. Like Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra. Tom Robinson and Tim Johnson. Etc. But Scout and Jem are funny and this book is great! I can tell why it has been considered a classic!

[Tuly]

I have enjoyed both of these books. By the way Jane i also enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird - also a pretty good movie.

1. On Becoming Neighbors: The Communication Ethics of Fred Rogers (Composition, Literacy, and Culture) by Alexandra Klaren - This is almost like a textbook on why Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was so successful with children and adults.

2. A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen - Same author that wrote The False Prince. Nielsen is a good writer. She writes about a family divided by the Berlin wall. Very riveting.

[Jane]

I haven't been on here for a while and so there are tons of books that I have read over the past couple of months. Last night I finished reading The Book Thief for school. It was really good, the writer (Mark Zusak) has a way of words that is very unique. But if you don't like sad and depressing books, don't read this because it almost made me cry! So yeah, that's kind of the only book I've read over the past couple of weeks since I had to read it for school. But right now I am reading Heidi and so far I love it!

[John]

Love love love Heidi.
Also enjoy the movie with Shirley Temple. But for me, the movie Heidi is not the book Heidi. Give me the book Heidi any day of the week!