Top Ten books every grandma/grandpa should read!

Welcome to a slight variation on the Top Ten "Tuesday" theme!
It is...Top Ten Tuesday on a Wednesday!!
I had started this post several days ago and wasn't able to finish until now!
(Yes, I'm cheating...shhhhhhh.)
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week's Top Ten is rather open-ended...Top Ten Books Every _______ Should Read!  

Rather than trying to think of a specific genre or sub-genre of books/reading materials, 

I decided to go with something linked to my personal life--being a GRANDMA!!
And just to prove I am a true feminist, am including the males!!

Especially since I have committed to 

Simpler Pastimes' Classic Children's Literature Event April 2016!

And Bex of An Armchair by the Sea and I are cohosting 

a year-long Little House Read-along 2016!

I do always keep a Children's/Juvenile Literature page on my blog for these reviews.
Though I'm sure I'll include some in this posting that I have not yet 
read and reviewed for this blog. Considering the fact that I have now been alive 60+ years and only established this blog June 1, 2013, not even quite 3 years ago,
I have read many more books than have been reviewed here! :) 
I refuse to review from memory only, though I have 
done so on Goodreads for some books, that is not the purpose of this blog.  

Granted, I have yet to make any headway on all my children's literature during this month of April, but I did read and review three excellent children's books in March! 


The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Just as good as I remembered!

And I have Timothy of the Cay 

checked out from the library!

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

In addition to the original book and two sequels above, 

there is also a picture book! >>>>>>>

And, yes, you guessed correctly! 

I have all of these 

checked out from the library 

and ready to read!

    Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My favorite of the Little House books so far! 

You may already be aware that 

Bex of An Armchair by the Sea and myself 

are cohosting a Little House Read-Along throughout 2016. 

We read one book per month!

 This is my first time to read these books 

and I adore them! 

Speaking of Read-Alongs 

and Children's books, 

I completed Reeder Reads' 

Green Gables Read-Along 

last year and 

loved all those books 

so very much! 

And, reading these books got me 

so into 

L.M. Montgomery's writing, that I 

now have 

The Blue Castle 

checked out of the library! 

I'm anxious to see how this compares to GG!

I also want to read Before Green Gables, 

a prequel to Montgomery's series, 

written by Budge Wilson 

and released in 2008. 

Although I adore both of these covers,

how could I resist the one 

with the big orange kitty?!? >>>>>>>>

There is also Emily Trilogy 

and she published many more, 

including short story collections! 

  I just imagine I would enjoy any or all of them!

I typically am not a huge fan of "retellings," 

but was very tempted by Andi Teran's 

Ana of California, released in June 2015. 

This was billed as a modern-day retelling of Anne of Green Gables, 

though Ana is latina.

Honestly, I didn't expect to enjoy it much, 

but I truly enjoyed it!

One of the most humorous children's books 

I've read in awhile is 

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventure, 

written by Kate DiCamillo 

& illustrated by K.G. Campbell.

This one is a gem 

and the illustrations are wonderful!

What a shock this book was for me!

I really had no idea what to expect

and was so gratified with this

beautiful story of a girl, 

who although her own brother is "different," 

discovers she still has some prejudices 

of her own to overcome!

And she does so...brilliantly!

 

And for intrigue during war time and occupation, 

as well as a mystery, 

you can't beat this historical fiction book,

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan!

I remembered this book so clearly from 

having read it when I was about 10 years old! 

And I still loved it almost 50 years later!

Children love the fact that these children take on a dangerous mission and succeed! 

Right under the Nazis' noses!

More historical fiction for kids!

Gennifer Choldenko is unparalleled 

in writing this genre/sub-genre 

(whatever label you would care to apply), 

in my opinion!

Al Capone Does My Shirts is the first novel in this trilogy.

And really, how can you resist that title?!?

Choldenko draws upon her own personal experiences 

living with her sister for one of these characters, 

and it is so very real! 

When I finished the third book 

I felt as if I'd had to leave 

some great friends 

on that isolated island!

And now for the final suggestion! Isn't this cover gorgeous?!?

I won this beautiful book by participating in a Re-Readathon this last month,

hosted by Bex of An Armchair by the Sea! 

It arrived at work yesterday and went a long way toward cheering me up!

And of course, as soon as I have read it, it gets shipped off to the grandkidlets!

 You might well ask why I feel a grandma or grandpa 
should still be reading children's literature.

Simple. I believe grandparents need to be able to discuss books with their grandchildren just as parents should do with their children! 

And, besides, I still enjoy these books! 

Have you read any children's literature lately?

Do you have some books you would like to re-read from childhood?

Engaged Anne--principal and meddler of the best kind!

Anne of Windy Poplars
by L.M. Montgomery

I am so very glad I took advantage of ReederReads' Green Gables Read-Along!

We get to know Anne as the principal of Summertime High School, living on Spook's Lane in Windy Poplars. As Anne writes to Gilbert,
     Isn't that an address? Did you ever hear anything
     so delicious? Windy Poplars is the name of my new
     home and I love it. I also love Spook's Lane, which
     has no legal existence. It should be Trent Street
     but it is never called Trent Street... It's dusk
     dearest. (In passing, isn't 'dusk' a lovely word? I
     like it better than twilight. It sounds so velvety
     and shadowy and...and...dusky.) In daylight I
     belong to the world...in the night to sleep and
     eternity. But in the dusk I'm free from both and
     belong only to myself...and you. (3)

     I wended my way to the graveyard this evening, Anne wrote to Gilbert... I
     think 'wend your way' is a lovely phrase and I try to work it in whenever I
     can. (51)
I'm so glad to see that Anne has yet to lose her fascination with words, nor her imaginative beliefs! Anne is Anne is Anne...and I'm always thrilled with that knowledge as I read each of these books. She becomes so familiar and well-known at the start and never loses that appeal...at least to me! (And, in case you're wondering, like Anne, I also try to use certain favorite words or phrases whenever possible!)

The first person she and Mrs. Lynde meet in town is Mrs. Braddock who immediately warns her of the "Royal family":
     ...a third cousin of theirs applied for the Principalship and they all think he
     should have got it. When your application was accepted the whole kit and
     kaboodle of them threw back their heads and howled. Well, people are like
     that. We have to take them as we find them, you know. They'll be as smooth
     as cream to you but they'll work against you every time. I'm not wanting to
     discourage you, but forewarned is forearmed. I hope you'll make good just
     to spite them. (6)
Ah, that good ol' two-faced business--nice to your face, nasty behind your back! I was once told by a minister's wife that she had learned, the first church members who fall all over themselves to ingratiate you and praise you upon your arrival in a new church, are typically the first to stab you in the back, much as the Pringles are known to be. So very sad, "that's what," as Mrs. Lynde would say! But I loved Mrs. Braddock for telling Anne in a most factual and positive way without lowering herself to the Pringles' level of snide hypocrisy!

Anne lucks out by beating the new banker in town to the "tower room" at Windy Poplars and lives with the two widows and Rebecca Dew, of whom she writes to Gilbert,
     You can't separate those names, Gilbert. It's impossible...though the
     widows do it. They call her Rebecca when they speak to her. I don't know
     how they manage it. (10)
And the way Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty (everyone calls them 'aunt'!) use reverse psychology with Rebecca Dew is hysterical! First to get her to agree to take Anne as a boarder and then to keep Dusty Miller living with them! So funny!

     No matter how often and long I'm away from [Green Gables], the minute a
     vacation comes I'm part of it again as if I have never been away, and my
     heart is torn over leaving it. But I know I'll like it here. And it likes me. I
     always know whether a house likes me or not. (12)
Fanciful Anne! Knowing whether a house likes her or not! :) We learn much about Anne's life during these three years through the letters she writes to Gilbert, as well as narrative. I typically love epistolary novels (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows always comes to mind as a beautiful example.) I so enjoyed imagining Gilbert's reactions as he read Anne's long letters!

Regarding her trials and tribulations with the Pringles:
     School has been 'keeping' for two weeks now and I've got things pretty well
     organized. But Mrs. Braddock was right...the Pringles are my problem. And
     as yet I don't see exactly how I'm going to solve it in spite of my lucky
     clovers. ...they are as smooth as cream, and as slippery.

     My room is full of Pringles and a good many students who bear another
     name have Pringle blood in them. The ring-leader of them seems to be Jen
     Pringle, a green-eyed bantling who looks as Becky Sharp must have looked
     at fourteen. I believe she is deliberately organizing a subtle campaign of
     insubordination and disrespect, with which I am going to find it hard to cope.
     (17) [Confession: I had to google Becky Sharp, having never read Vanity
              Fair!]
But just as Anne believes she has lost this 'war,' as so often happens with her, she lucks out and gains some valuable historical information pertinent to the Pringles that salvages her relationship with them, being accepted by all of them, making her secure in her three-year contract as principal and much happier since she admits that she still can't stand not to be 'liked' by everyone, just as she felt as a child. Interestingly, as I read this I thought of a person who told me their goal in life was to "make everyone love me." This made me uneasy, because it is so unrealistic, not everyone will love any one person, so while you can hopefully establish respectful relationships with most people you encounter, it is impossible to make each person love or even like you. But I assume that Anne was referring to the ability to establish effective and respectful relationships, at least I am making that my interpretation of her desire. :)

One of the main themes of all the Green Gables books I've read thus far is the idea of Anne simply trying to be the best person she can be, even when meddling into other peoples' lives and affairs, and these actions turning out to save her in many ways. For example, her private nurturing of Sophy Sinclair's desire and talent to act, thereby thwarting Jen Pringle, the lead actress in the High School play , when she claimed to be sick the day of the performance, hoping to destroy any hope of Anne's success as the faculty sponsor of the event. This allowed Sophy to stand in and experience success which lead her to become a very successful actress as an adult, and saving Anne from defeat! Anne's persistence to get to know and like Katherine which led the woman to change careers and find happiness she had never hoped to discover within herself.

Perhaps the two most poignant stories of all in this book: Little Elizabeth's hope that her father would rescue her from life with her Grandmother and The Woman, and that bit of magic as Lewis and Anne deliver Little Fellow's picture to his father, altering his life perspective for the better! And finally, perhaps the funniest and most realistic to me, her part in the Hazel and Terry marriage debacle, or so it seemed... Anne's life continues to contain one adventure after another, as she puts herself 'out there' in society and tries to 'do good' for others as much as she is able...

I believe this may well be my second favorite book of this series so far, after the first book, Anne of Green Gables. How about your favorite(s) within this series? And if you haven't read them, you really should. In my opinion this is classic/children's literature at it's best! 

llama llama and mama...

llama llama holiday drama 

and

llama llama easter egg

by Anna Dewdney

To say I am a sucker for children's books is...well...honestly...to speak the truth!!

I call myself the "book Grandma" since that is 

virtually all I gift to my grandchildren. 

For me, there is no greater gift to give!

Perhaps we all tend to want to 'pass on' to those we love what is most meaningful to us. At least I think most of us do... I have looked at these Llama Llama books for years and finally bought the holiday book while on sale at Barnes & Noble for half price...after the end of the year, of course! However, I never overly stress giving "holiday" books at various times, assuming parents can save them back and/or put them into a reading rotation, if they desire. I decided last night I wanted to read these before I delivered them. This is something I always try to do, though sometimes I run out of time! 

For me, Dewdney's anthropomorphization of the llamas is the most fun part of these books. To see human clothes on these furry four-footed camelids as they walk upright is in itself fascinating! The vocabulary is very simple. There are many things I really like. The fact that llama's schoolmates are of varied species, the fact that mama is including llama in ALL the holiday preparations, and especially that, as many of us human mamas don't remember to do often enough, she sits and snuggles with her child:

Gifts are nice,

but there's another--

the true gift is 

we have each other.

What parent would argue with that? :)

And to be a bit more timely and in line with current holidays:

I love the Easter board book just as much! Board books are so very practical--they last much longer and can take more abuse!

Llama learns about some naturally colored eggs that are never meant 

to be cooked, hunted, or eaten!

Checkout the website: sing-along, app, video. 

In closing, these books are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!
I assume Ms. Dewdney does all the artwork herself since she mentions painting on her website. I particularly admire the facial expressions depicted. 
Artwork is a large part of the picture book experience. 

Whether you're looking for gifts for your own children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or a friend's child, or a baby shower gift, or as an anonymous charitable donation--

I guarantee you can't go wrong with any of the Llama Llama books!

I intend to gift more of them to my own kidlets!!

Have you read any of these? Or better yet, have you read any of these to children? If not, give 'em a try!

Superheroes come in all sizes and shapes...

Flora & Ulysses: the Illuminated Adventures 
written by Kate DiCamillo 

illustrated by K.G. Campbell

Personally, I feel every person would benefit from reading this book, particularly if you consider yourself to be an "adult"! :) It reinvigorated that childish ability to be fascinated by life in general, and imagination overall! These are all utterly outlandish and unique characters! Though every reader would probably recognize characteristics from ourselves or those we know...which, in my opinion, makes them so enjoyable, relatable, and, dare I say it...believable!?! Flora repeatedly refers to herself as a "natural-born cynic"! Yet she proves that even cynics can believe in seemingly incredible happenings and super-hero beings! As, I'm convinced, we all should...at least on occasion!

Flora Belle Buckman is no ordinary human, Ulysses is no ordinary squirrel, and very few of the characters depicted within this book would likely be classified as "ordinary" or "normal," (But seriously, which of us truly is?) but they are all true to themselves! Alfred T. Slipper (appropriately named) and Incandesto; the little Shepherdess (though inanimate, nevertheless seemingly very important to Flora's mother); Dr. Meescham, the "Doctor of Philosophy" who doesn't necessarily know much about medicine (though her husband, the "MD," evidently did!); William Spiver, the "temporarily blind" grand-nephew of Flora's neighbor, Tootie; Mr. Klaus, particularly the feline so named; Dolores, the parakeet; Flora's mother, the "criminal element" as well as Flora and Ulysses' arch-nemesis; and finally my favorite character after Flora and Ulysses, her father, George Buckman, who always politely introduces himself, repeatedly! It appears George is apparently the king of understatement, saying "Holy unanticipated consequences," as they hurriedly exit the Giant Do-Nut shop in the wake of the total chaos caused by Ulysses.

Like Flora, I also had a stage of total fascination with and immersion in comic books at one time during my childhood. However, I do not recall one entitled Terrible Things Can Happen to You! I am uncertain if I would have tried reading that one or not, given its title... :) However, some of the tips contained within these comic books appeared to help guide Flora throughout her extraordinary adventures with Ulysses! For example: "Do not hope," and, "This malfeasance must be stopped!"  

I adored the mixture of some comic-like illustrations and text, which served to launch me into another "reading world" than that to which I've evidently become relegated and accustomed--the boring adult "text only" books! (Okay, I am just kidding, but I do truly enjoy a romp through "juvenile" literature periodically!) I don't know abut you, but I am extremely glad to have younger children (in my case 10+ grandchildren) for whom I can purchase gifts, especially since I am the self-proclaimed "book grandma"! The advantage to me? I get to "preview" them before gifting them! You know, after all...uh-hum...it is my "responsibility" to do so as an upstanding adult and familial matriarch to make sure they're "safe for consumption by children of all ages"! It just so happens that I take that responsibility very seriously! :) At least that's my excuse to re-immerse myself in child-like imaginative reading experiences.

The irony and subtle adult humor of Mr. Tickham proudly presenting his wife with the penultimate birthday gift of a Ulysses 2000X vacuum cleaner was not lost on me! After all, every wife dreams of receiving a household cleaning tool for her birthday, right?!? And to introduce the story with a few pages of concisely drawn and emotive illustrations definitely puts the reader in the light-hearted mood that makes this reading experience even more pertinent/enjoyable. Good job, Kate and K.G.!! 

As an adult, I could strongly relate to the following passage on so many levels: 

               Flora's mother was in the kitchen. She was typing. She wrote on an old 
          typewriter, and when she pounded the keys, the kitchen table shook and the
          plates on the shelves rattled and the silverware in the drawers cried out in a
          metallic kind of alarm.
               Flora had decided that this was part of the reason her parents had divorced.
          Not the noise of the writing, but the noise of the writing itself. Specifically, the 
          writing of romance.
               Flora's father had said, "I think your mother is so in love with her books that
          she doesn't love me anymore."
               And her mother said, "Ha! Your father is so far off in left field that he wouldn't
          recognize love if it stood up in his soup and sang. (p. 27)

Now, perhaps this passage resonated so strongly with me due to several reasons. First, when I was in college following high school, I lived in a sorority house my second year and had an old "manual" Royal typewriter that my mother had brought home to me when I was 6 years old. I loved that thing!! I stubbornly drug it along with me, ostensibly to type my own papers, though I eventually did so for other people, earning a little extra money. Those typewriters were LOUD, and I do mean, LOUD! I was tucked away in the basement "common room" typing, oblivious to any disruption, but some of my sorority sisters would complain the next morning about the noise that was emanating throughout the building as I typed... Oops!! ;) Secondly, being divorced, I can relate to the two differing perspectives regarding the break-up of a marriage. 

Third is the additional irony that Flora's mother wrote "romance" novels. As a young teen (tween as we now call them), once I had exhausted all the local library reads contained within the children's, western, and animal sections (as well as some biographies), I finally read a few books of what I will term "semi-romance," though always including a mystery! (Note: there was no "YA" literature section back then!) Although they were halfway interesting to me at the time, after 5 books or so I moved on to classic/adult literature. I have heard the term "literature snob," and although I don't consider myself to be one, perhaps I qualify by some people's standards... The books we shelved as "romance" at Borders (prior to the Fifty Shades of Gray and advent of soft porn being classified as romance) held little appeal to me. I read a couple just to be sure, but romance novels are not my preference, as is my preference to avoid horror books... My point is that adults can also connect with this book and others classified as "children's literature," just as we can with The Muppets or Fraggle Rock TV shows. 

Have you read or reread a children's book recently? Or do you have a favorite? I adore much of the more current juvenile/children's literature! How about you?