Finished a Challenge!

Today is the last day of S Krishna's COYSChallenge, so I spent it hurredly adjusting my score. (20% of my reading had to be books I owned on October 1st). Final tallies:

Books Read: 46
From my shelves: 12 (not counting the one I bought in November)

1. Flint, Louis L'Amour (Western)
2. Lord Caldwell and the Cat, Joy Reed (Romance)
3. Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, M.G. Lord (Memoir & History)
4. Fairest, Gail Carson Levine (kidlit)
5. The Princess and the Hound, Mette Ivie Harrison (YA)
6. Outlaws of Ravenhurst, M. Imelda Wallace (kidlit, Catholic style)
7. The Noonday Friends, Mary Stolz (kidlit, Newbery)
8. Kringle, Tony Abbott (kidlit)
9. Star Trek 2, James Blish (SF/TV)
10. Jip: His Story, Katherine Patterson (kidlit, Newbery)
11. Left By Themselves, Charles Paul May (kidlit)
12. Is Pluto a Planet?, David A. Weintraub (Science)

Percentage (drumroll please!): 26% I win! I win! I'd like to thank my parents, who I don't think know about this blog, and my agent, who is a figment of my imagination, and all my loyal followers (likewise fictional). And my children, who went to bed so I could quickly finish four books from my shelves and ensure my success. Not to mention bringing me a fork so I could eat pie in bed while reading the last Western.

Also, my family across the street, who gave me two of those books for my favorite birthday ever, and A-Z Wednesdays, which led me to the books for the weeks I, J, K, L, N, O, and P.

We will not look at what would have happened if I had been too busy to finish those last four books today. (19%! Failure! Didn't Happen!) And you can all count your blessings that I don't know how to rig this blog to play the theme from Chariots of Fire, let alone make it go all flashy and blinking lights.

Passive Prince in Princess and the Hound

Another A-Z Wednesday has come, hosted by Reading on the Beach. Although most people just pick a book from their shelves that start with the week's letter, I insist on reading the book that day. If I'm lucky, I can grab something from my currently reading pile, so I don't start from scratch. Or I find a kids book. Or I panic. I'm good at that.

Today I grabbed a YA book from my currently reading table, with a bookmark almost halfway through. And luckily for me, that's about when the plot of The Princess and the Hound, by Mette Ivie Harrison, really takes off. I found myself impatient with Prince George, the main character, who spends most of the book being restrained and inhibited. But after he meets the princess arranged to be his bride, he finds himself grappling with his emotions and preparing to take actions for himself. The princess was a bit too perfect, but I really appreciated how much slower she was to trust him than his feelings for her.

The back cover claims that it's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but only if you squint sideways and are kinda drunk. But it does have a fairy tale flavor, and if you have a lot of patience for slow character building, it's a rewarding book. I finished it while waiting for my brine to cool enough to put the turkey in, so I'll give thanks that it was a good read, because on Wednesdays there is no turning back. B

O! Scots for the Blessed Mother! Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Today, Wednesday, is Reading on the Beach's A-Z Wednesday, which compels me to inflict another book upon y'all. I had several choices and I went with the one I've been carrying around the longest: Outlaws of Ravenhurst, by Sister M. Imelda Wallace, S.L. I'm a bit concerned by the lack of an imprimatur, but I have to believe the Catholic Authors Press wouldn't be selling anything that doesn't deserve one.

This book was a delight. The purple prose that the first sentence promised cheered me tremendously. ("Night lay on the long swelling waves of the Chesapeake Bay: no wind, no star, a murky darkness." Not too much, but just enough.) Our hero, George, finds that he is really the lost Scot Earl Gordon, not merely a poor American frontier lad. This is no happy Fauntleroy tale, however. Gordon's evil uncle has embraced PROTESTANTISM and is horrified by Gordon's devotion to the true church. It is the reign of Charles I, and Roman Catholics are hotly persecuted in Scotland. Will Gordon's faith be strong? Has his mother really forgotten him in a whirl of parties, or has the uncle locked her in a dungeon while forging those frothy letters? Shall we stop the narrative right after the confrontation between uncle and boy so we can read along with Gordon in his sixty page book of family devotions? Yes, yes we should.

There is a good amount of action and skulduggery, and also a lot of Catholic propaganda (hint, if a character isn't R.C., DON'T TRUST HIM). A bit of history as well; if I got my kids to read it they'd know something about the English Civil War, Scotland, and the founding of the American colony of Maryland. They'd also know a bit about Catholic traditions. Sadly, they are Greek Orthodox, not Roman Catholic, so I'm not getting a nibble, although P thought the idea of a book within a book very funny (especially the part where a character in the inner book told a long story). I know I would have loved this book as a kid. B+

PS. There is also a study guide, but I don't have that.

Best Sister Award: Noonday Friends

This Wednesday I went back to my kidlit piles for A-Z Wednesday, the weekly challenge hosted by Reading on the Beach to spotlight books starting with each week's letter. I was hoping to find a kidlit N book about soldiers in some form, but that proved too specific a request for my disorganized piles. So I grabbed Noonday Friends, a Newbery Honor that I either completely forgot or somehow missed reading (it's copyright 1965). My cover is older looking; I prefer it.

Mary Stolz mostly writes family stories about children growing up in the city. In this case, Franny's family is poor and teetering on the edge of worse, with a well-meaning dad who loves to paint but isn't that good at holding a regular job. Her twin brother Jimmy cares for his family but doesn't really know how to show it. Her little brother idolizes her and doesn't really understand the problems his family faces. Franny worries about her father's health, her family's instabilities, and her friendship with girls in her class. It's an excellent mix of big and little problems, with Franny child's eye view rating them according to their emotional impact, not any exterior scale. I'll put it out for my boys, but it's probably not plot driven enough for them. B

Shelf Challenge

Time for another challenge, because all the cool kids are doing it. At least until they hear I've joined in. And I have the key book already -- I'm about to start Shelf Discovery, and Booking Mama has announced a challenge to read six books from the many described in there. So I browsed through the table of contents, and found the books that I either haven't read or can't remember squat about.

My six picks for the challenge, taken one from each chapter, are:

1. Ludell. I've put in an ILL, but just in case, the backup book is Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself, which I cannot remember an iota of.

2. To Take a Dare. On hold. There are two others in this section I haven't read, but that's a later challenge. (Sister of the Bride and Caroline, if you are wondering.)

3. The Grounding of Group 6. I think this is the one I always meant to read but didn't, so I've summoned it via the magic of the library. The others I can't remember are: Daughters of Eve, Summer of Fear, and Secret Lives. I'll hold them in reserve in case I find I remember the 6.

4. Beat the Turtle Drum. The Gift of the Pirate Queen will be a good reserve.

5. Don't Hurt Laurie! is a book I heard about somewhere else lately, so it beats out Are You in the House Alone? despite the name Richard Peck on the cover.

6. I've, er, read all of these. I liked them all, too.

7. Hangin' Out with Cici will be my sixth book, although there are three others I don't think I've read here: Stranger With My Face, Jane-Emily, and Down a Dark Hall.

The other chapters will be optional extra credit, depending on my whim and OCD desire to check off at least one from each list.

8. Ooo, ick, love stories. I'll try Happy Endings Are All Alike but if it's too sappy I have In Summer Light and To All My Fans, With Love, From Sylvie as possibilities.

9. Um, read them all again. What a nifty feeling.

10. I can't believe how few of the naughty books I've read. I'll try Domestic Arrangements because I trust Norma Klein more than V.C. Andrews (Sweet Audrina), and I suspect I've just repressed Wifey.

I haven't forgotten my other challenge. I'm still clearing off my shelves, sorta. In October I read about 23 books, 5 of them old. So I'm on track with my 20% goal. Of course, this recent glut of library books isn't helping. Maybe I should count books I've had out for over six weeks...

K for Kringle, OK?

Today is K Day on Reading at the Beach's A-Z Wednesday, so I tossed through my unread book pile until I found Kringle, by Tony Abbott (he's the Secrets of Droon guy). It's a retelling of the legend of Santa Clause, with Kringle as the boy chosen one who fights goblins with the aid of shoe-fixing elves, a Christian hermit, and reindeer that are the avatars of his dead parents. It's an interesting mishmash of ideas that mostly works, but occasionally I found myself out in the cold wondering if I had wandered into an allegory. Kringle has boyish adventures like battling goblins with his stick as well as mystical adventures involving a vision quest inside a frozen crevice. The book kept me turning the pages (it was fairly easy to read this even in a moderately busy day), but some of the strangeness was jarring.

I'll leave it out for my kids, but they probably won't pick it up until the holiday season, if then. B-.

Trekkie 2

I used to have all the original Star Trek books, but at some move they didn't make the cut. But James Blish's Star Trek 2 fell back into my house somehow, so I reread it. Rereading a book has a different texture than a first read; the shadows of memory are flickering behind the text. Sometimes there is only a feint sense of deja vu, since most things have been forgotten. Sometimes all the plot has vanished, but the tone and mood seems comfortably familiar. Sometimes everything is still fresh and cozy, like hearing a favorite bedtime story one more time. Sometimes the anticipation makes everything sharper -- you know what will happen if they open THAT DOOR, but it slowly creaks open anyway.

Rereading a Star Trek collection has a triple echo, because I'm getting the ghosts of both the previous read and the visuals of the TV episodes themselves. Sometimes these ghosts align, and sometimes their differences cross back and forth. It's hard to get a sense of what the story is at all, because what I'm really reading is my past, my early enjoyment of science fiction, of reading and watching things not made for kids. Of recognizing something as belonging to the near past; this book was written the year I was born. Finally, tor.com has been reviewing the episodes of Star Trek, so I see the stories through the eyes of the analysts.

This book has some classic episodes, including "The City on the Edge of Forever", where Kirk is tragically prudent, and some, er, less classic ones, such as "Court Martial", where Spock plays chess. I'll offer it to my son, but I suspect he'll find it too old-fashioned.

J is for Jackpot

Today is "J" day at Reading at the Beach's A-Z Wednesday, and the book I found on my shelves was Jip, His Story by Katherine Paterson. I got this book at a library sale years ago, but I assumed it would be a reread because I was sure I had read all of Paterson's books already. She's most famous for A Bridge to Terabithia, but she's written many kidlit books, most of them powerful and engrossing.


But I was wrong! This book was new to me, and everyone one knows the joy of finding an unknown book by a beloved author -- it's like finding an extra stash of Christmas presents under the piano on Boxing Day. All for me. Jip is an orphan boy growing up on a Vermont town's poor farm, overworked and under-loved. He finds friendship in a lunatic locked up in the asylum and with a teacher (who I believe I've met in a previous book). And then he finds out about his parentage, and his father is truly bad news. I really liked this book for its historical setting and its take on the relationships and competency of the people involved. Jip makes some bad calls, but they are true to his development, and he also pulls off some real feats (in which I include waiting patiently). I've recommended this book to my fifth grader, which probably means he will shun it. After all, he only loves about 90% of the books I make him read. A.

Good Historical Fiction For Kids

I read historical fiction as fiction first, and history second. I want a story. It's better if the facts are right, because it's hard to believe in a story if you know things are wrong, and annoying to learn things from a story that turn out to be false, but if the story stops to lecture me about history, then we've left the fiction platform and leaped into the void. Maybe you land somewhere fun, but if you start by cheating your audience it's hard to come back.

Charles Paul May, a writer mainly of nonfiction kids books, seems to understand this important distinction. His Left By Themselves, a book dated 1972 that I bought by mistake at a garage sale a decade ago, is "about" the pernicious Fugitive Slave Law in Iowa in the mid 1800s. But it tells the story of two kids on their own in the snow, who have to keep themselves warm and fed. After figuring out the basic needs, they have to decide whether to trust the bounty hunters who warn them of a ferocious girl-eating slave on the loose in the area, and then they have to decide whether to trust the man they find hiding in the barn. The facts in the book are limited to what the children know, and they know nothing about politics (one of them doesn't know much about farming, either). We aren't even given a date or a place until the end, because the kids aren't reciting the calendar to each other. It's a smooth story that gives a good sense of the place and time, without breaking into mini-lectures. I'll try to pass it on to my third grader, although he may find the brittle pages distracting. This book is just barely younger than his uncle! B

A fun note on titles -- the original name was Stranger in the Storm, which sounds more exciting but doesn't make as much sense since the book is really about the kids on their own. And the manuscript title was Birds Flying High, which is a beautiful reference to the weather lore and the fugitive slave, but doesn't make sense until after you read the book.

"I" Want More Planets

Today is another A-Z Wednesday, hosted by Reading at the Beach. Bloggers highlight a book that starts with the letter of the day; I read the book on that day but that is not required. This week we celebrate the letter "I." At least I do.


I've been plugging along at Is Pluto a Planet? by David A. Weintraub for a few weeks now. He writes animatedly about the history of our understanding of planets and the changing definitions as people refine their understanding of the universe. For example, the sun was considered a planet back when it revolved around the earth. The moons of Jupiter were called planets, but when the heliocentric model really took off, planets were defined as circling the sun, so moons were exiled from planetdom. Then more planets were discovered -- Uranus, Ceres, Pallas, a few others, then Neptune. And Vulcan. Oh, and Pluto. But along the way Ceres, Pallas, and their friends were converted into asteroids, and Vulcan disappeared (it was thought to orbit inside of Mercury, and accounted for the irregularities of the first planet's path. Turns out Einstein's special relativity accounts for it even better.). So the number of planets has always ballooned and deflated, depending on the power of our telescopes and the consensus of astronomers.

Strangely, it turns out that I know more about the ancient history of astronomy than modern stuff. The closer the book came to the present, the more interesting I found it. Suddenly there was drama and controversy -- Is Neptune's orbit explainable? Where would planet X be? Pluto was found because a rich astronomer paid someone to look for it, but he was looking based on flawed math -- it was only a coincidence that Pluto was there. In our huge sky, that seems amazing!

The final chapter looks at the modern definitions of a planet, especially ones that attempt to include or exclude Pluto. Weintraub does not have patience for "scientific" definitions based on utterly arbitrary definitions, so "things bigger or smaller than Pluto" do not cut the mustard as a definition. He prefers setting an upper bound as "not big enough for fusion" and a smaller bound as "big enough to be round." Unfortunately, his book was written just before the IAU's definition, which drags in the criteria that the planet clear its orbit, but I suspect he would not be impressed. Jupiter and Saturn have significant debris at their Lagrange points, in their orbits, and it is clearly easier to clear smaller sections of space nearer to the sun. Not to mention that the definition ignores orphan planets and other planet-looking objects. His definition gives us about 24 planets, with Ceres and Pallas and other hopefuls back in the front of the astronomy textbooks. I found it rather persuasive, although I'm not sure I can come up with a mnemonic for them all. That's what comes with replacing mythology with definitions. Loads of fun, but skip to the last few chapters if you want just the local news. B+

PS. I just looked up Weintraub's web page, so I can link him, and I was right about his distaste for the new definition of planet. He even mentions the Trojan asteroids in Jupiter's orbit! Also, since Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, the "clear your orbit" rule seems to mean that Neptune isn't a planet either. Hmm. More fun in the skies!

A Challenge -- Clear Your Shelves

There is this book blog thing called a Challenge, where we dare each other to read more books. Or get acknowledged for what we were reading, but meet up with people reading similar things. My Wednesday A-Z challenge fits this, but most challenges are topic based and date based.

I'm dipping my toe into one -- the challenge to read some of the books I've been carting around with me for years. So my challenge is that between now and Nov. 30th, 20% of the books I read will be ones I bought before October 1st, and hopefully earlier. I'm picking the lower level because I've never tried to sort my books this way before. I got the Clear Off Your Shelves challenge from Kristen's BookNAround, but it's hosted by S. Krisna. GO!