Bringing Asha Home, a Picture Book Addressing Diversity

Bringing Asha Home was written by Uma Krishnaswami and was published in 2006. This is a wonderful story written from the viewpoint of a little boy, Arun, who anxiously awaits the arrival of his little sister, Asha, who his parents adopt from India. The process is long and hard for Arun to understand. In the beginning of the book, all he knows is that he is going to get a little sister, and that his daddy is going to fly on a plane to pick her up. As time drags on with no little sister, Arun's dad, who is from India, continually explains to Arun that there are lots of papers that have to be filled out and lots of rules that need to be followed before they can bring Asha home. Arun tells his friend about Asha, and says he hopes that she will bring him a Rakhi, a bracelet traditionally given by sisters to their brothers on Rahki Day. Asha turns a year old and is still not with Arun and his family, but they still celebrate and have family and friends over to see pictures of Asha. Arun makes paper airplanes for Asha and puts one special one on her shelf in her bedroom that he vows to give her when she arrives. One day Arun checks the mail and finds an envelope from India in the mailbox; he runs it inside to his dad, who rips it open and announces that the wait is over - Asha gets to finally come home. Arun decorates the paper airplane he has been saving for Asha and puts it in his dad's suitcase. Arun stays home with his mother to get ready for Asha's arrival. Finally, the big day comes and Arun's dad arrives at the airport with Asha. Asha's new family welcomes her with open arms and hugs her tightly. As they leave the airport, Arun sees that Asha is clutching his paper airplane and a shiny bracelet is tied to it. Arun's dad tells him that the people in India who took care of Asha "thought she couldn't go home to her brother without a rakhi." Asha gives the rakhi to Arun and when he gets home he hangs it on his door to wear on Rakhi day. As Asha sleeps that night Arun puts the plane back on her shelf and says "My best airplane ever has helped bring my sister home."

This book is perfect for children who have experienced adoption in their families, and for children trying to understand another culture's customs, particularly India. I had never heard of Rakhi day until I read this book. The author has a note in the back of the book, as well as a few definitions on the copyright page to help children better understand a few of the terms. Although these were helpful, I was interested in learning a little more about Rakhi day, mainly because I have a son and two daughters and I thought it was wonderful that this holiday celebrates the relationship between a brother and a sister. I am also a scrapbooker and have always complained that there are always accessories for scrapbooks to celebrate the relationship between brothers, as well as the relationship between sisters, but I am hard-pressed to find decorations celebrating the relationship between a brother and a sister. I learned that there is an entire festival devoted to the celebration of Rakhi day (or Raksha Bandhan) in northern India, and that it is celebrated on the day of the full moon of the Hindu month Shravan, usually around late August. Brothers and sisters celebrate their relationship and strengthen their eternal bond of love on this day. Sisters tie a sacred thread or bracelet of Rakhi on their brothers' wrists and pray for his long life. Brothers bless their sisters, present them gifts, and promise to guard them against all hardships in life.

In Bringing Asha Home, Arun hopes to share and create this tradition of Rakhi with his new little sister. This book is a wonderful example of a diverse family (the mother in the story is American and the father is Indian) who adopts a little girl and continues to preserve her cultural heritage, even though they live in America. Children will learn from this book that there is more than one way to become a part of a family, and will be introduced to the process of adoption as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who is going through the process of adoption and trying to explain it to another child. It would also be a great book for a classroom because so many children in today's world are part of diverse families - children from other cultures who are being raised in this country, children who live with their grandparents, etc. - and I believe it is important to assure children that we are all one big world family and that it is okay to come from different backgrounds and cultures. This book will help children feel a sense of belonging no matter where they come from.

Bud, Not Buddy - A Chapter Book Addressing Diversity

Bud, Not Buddy, was written by Christopher Paul Curtis in 1999, and geared towards children ages 9-12. It's the fictional story of a ten-year-old African American boy, Bud Caldwell, who lived in an orphanage in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression. He ran away from a foster family who treated him poorly and decide to go look for his father. Bud's mother had died when he was six, and he thinks his father is Herman E. Calloway, a well-known jazz musician. His mother had several flyers that she kept featuring Herman's band and the locations of where the musicians played. Bud didn't know why else his mother would have kept the flyers unless they had something to do with his dad. Even though Bud's last name was Caldwell, it was very close to Calloway, so Bud figured Herman was his father. Bud kept everything he owned in a tattered suitcase - a bag of rocks, a blanket, the flyers, and a photograph of his mother when she was younger, riding a pony. Bud's mother named him "Bud," not "Buddy." He remembered many things his mother had told him, and one of them was the story of his name. She told him "Bud is your name and don't you ever let anyone call you anything outside of that either...especially don't every let anyone call you Buddy...I would've added that dy onto the end of your name if I intended for it to be there. Your name is Bud, period." She went on to explain, "A bud is a flower-to-be. A flower in waiting. Waiting for just the right warmth and care to open up. It's a little fist of love waiting to unfold and be seen by the world. And that's you." Thus, every time Bud meets somebody he introduces himself by saying, "I'm Bud, not Buddy."

Bud and his best friend from the orphanage, Bugs, decided to stow away on a train to try to find Herman E. Calloway, and found a "Hooverville" where they met a group who knew the location of the train station. When the train departs earlier than expected one morning, the crowd rushes to board it, and Bud was not able to keep up to jump on. He went to the library to find out how to get to Grand Rapids, where he believed his father lived, and decided to walk the 120 miles from Flint. He had not gotten far when a redcap stopped him, questioned him, fed him, and took him home with him to sleep for the night. He asked Bud where he lived, and Bud lied so that he would not get sent back home. He told him Grand Rapids, and the man said he was going there the next day anyway, and that he would take him home to his father, who Bud said was Herman E. Calloway. The man knew exactly where he lived. When they arrived the next day, the band looked at Bud, confused, and asked what he needed. Bud told them he was looking for his father, and pointed to Herman, who scoffed at Bud. Everyone laughed and told him that there was no way Herman could be his father, and Bud was devastated. The lead singer of the jazz band, a woman, took an instant liking to Bud, and after hearing that he had been living in an orphanage, asked Herman if they could take him in and let him stay with them. After a few weeks, Bud had a conversation with the singer and told her the name of his mother; at that point everyone realized Herman was not his father, but his grandfather. Bud's mother had left home when she was young because Herman was so strict, and he had not seen her for years. He was sad about her death, but happy to have found out about Bud, and Bud stayed with him and the band and lived in his mother's old bedroom, where pictures of horses, her passion, were thumb-tacked all over the walls. But was given a saxophone of his own by one of the band members and vowed to play as well as Herman and his band did one day.

This book gives the reader a glimpse of the Great Depression and what it was like to live during that time period. Hoovervilles were indeed a reality at the time, and thousands of Americans were without work, food, or homes. Many children were abandoned by their parents because they could not afford to feed or clothe them, and the children, like Bud, were forced to fend for themselves. Although the Hooverville that Bud and his friend Bugs visited was primarily composed of blacks, there were also some white people there. A white couple with a sick, crying baby chose not to gather around the fire to keep warm and did not eat with the blacks. Deza, the little girl Bud befriended while there, tells him they had been invited to sit and eat, but when someone took food over to them the white man said "Thank you very much, but we're white people. We ain't in need of a handout." This perception that white people had about black people was typical of the time period.

Entertainment was crucial for Americans during the Great Depression; the author explains in his afterword that his paternal grandfather was actually a big bandleader for most of his life, and the character of Herman E. Calloway was based on his real grandfather, Herman E. Curtis. Americans relied on entertainers and entertainment to get them through those challenging times. The author uses Bud effectively as narrator to paint the picture of 1930s America for the reader. The Great Depression affected everyone in America, not just the black population. Unemployment was the worst it ever was in history. The Hooverville in Bud, Not Buddy was the perfect example of the U.S. unemployment melting pot during the 1930s.

Like many of the books I have read for this blog, Bud, Not Buddy was recommended to me by my 13-year-old son. He was very impressed with not only this book, but also this author, Christopher Paul Curtis. He had already read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, which I also hope to read, and liked it so much that he wanted to read another book by the author. I seem to enjoy similar titles that my son enjoys. I was also interested in this book because it won the Newbery Medal in 2000. I would highly recommend it as not only an enjoyable story, but also a realistic depiction of the diversity in America during the Great Depression.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - The Book and the Movie

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. An ABC television Christmas special based on the book was produced in 1983 and later released on VHS then DVD. This story, narrated by a little girl, is a hilarious tale of six delinquent "welfare" children who torment everyone in their paths. The Herdmans, whose father had left them and mother worked so much she was hardly ever home, "were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down toolhouse." That opening line of the book describes the clan perfectly - they bully kids and scare adults as well. The narrator's little brother in particular was picked on by Leroy Herdman, who stole his lunch daily. One day the little boy exploded and told him that he didn't care, that he could get all the food and snacks he wanted at Sunday School. This statement caused Leroy to bring all of his brothers and sisters to church, where they stole money from the collection basket and went to a meeting about the upcoming Christmas pageant. The narrator's mother, Grace, was in charge of the pageant that year because the woman normally in charge of it had fallen and broken her leg; on a normal year, children like the Herdmans would never have been allowed to even go to the pageant meeting. But Grace let them come, and before the meeting was over, the Herdmans all had key roles: Imogene was Mary; Ralph was Joseph; Leroy, Ollie, and Claude were the three wise men; and Gladys was the angel of the Lord. Imogene threatened the girl who normally played Mary in the pageant, and told her if she volunteered to be Mary this year she would drop a pussy willow seed in her ear and a pussy willow bush would grow out of it. Though the minister and entire congregation were convinced the Herdmans would ruin the pageant, it indeed turned out to be the "best Christmas pageant ever" - the wise men did not fight coming up the aisle, and even came bearing a gift of a Christmas ham that was in their Christmas basket from the welfare office. Ralph and Imogene reverently entered as Mary and Joseph, and Imogene ended up being overwhelmed about the true meaning of Christmas and even cried. Gladys screamed "HEY! Unto you a child is BORN!" and pushed the rest of the angels up on to the stage, but everyone thought it was very funny. The town and the school learned that even the worst kids just needed some guidance, teaching, and a little love.

Although the movie version of this book was well done, the acting was commendable, and there were funny moments, it did not even come close to conveying how hilarious the book actually is. As with most movies based on books, so much of the story and dialogue had to be left out that you really missed much of the humor. The author did a fantastic job using the first-person narrator recounting incidents involving the Herdmans, and I laughed out loud many times while reading. I expected so much slapstick from the movie because the book was so entertaining that I was disappointed.

I remember when I was in third grade, sometime around 1982, one of my good friends read this book constantly. She never grew tired of it, and now I know why. Even then the book was ten years old. My son's teacher also read him this story when he was in the third grade, in 2006. It's a story that young and old will enjoy over and over for generations to come.

The Dancing Kettle: A Book by Yoshiko Uchida

The Dancing Kettle and Other Japanese Folk Tales was written by Yoshiko Uchida in 1949. This book is a collection of 14 short folk tales intended, as the author states, to "awaken in readers the realization that all children, in whatever country they may live, have the same love of fun and a good story." In addition, Uchida hopes to "increase among our children a feeling of respect for and understanding of the cultural heritages of other countries and peoples."

The Dancing Kettle is the first of the stories included in the collection. I have chosen this tale to summarize since it is the title of the book. This story's main character is a priest who lived in Japan and loved beautiful things, particularly teacups and kettles. He discovered an unusually striking teakettle one day, and took it back to the temple with him where he admired it. Before long, he fell asleep, and while he slept the kettle sprouted a head, legs, and arms, and began to dance about the temple. Two other priests came in and saw the kettle and awakened the owner to show him, but the kettle stopped dancing. (This scene instantly reminded me of the 1955 Looney Tunes episode titled One Froggy Evening, starring Michigan J. Frog, directed by Chuck Jones; if you haven't seen it, it's a must - one of my very favorite Looney Tunes episodes of all time!) The priest sent the two men away and said they had disturbed his nap. The next day the priest poured some water in the kettle, placed it on his hibachi (a traditional Japanese heating device) to boil, and was startled when the kettle shouted "Help! This is hot!" The priest thought he must have acquired something evil so he gave it to a junkman, who soon witnessed the lively kettle's dancing. The kettle told the junkman that he just wanted to be fed and taken care of. The junkman had an idea to start a little theater in the streets to invite people to pay money to see the dancing kettle. (See again how this parallels One Froggy Evening?!) After successfully acquiring all the money he needed, the junkman decided to let the kettle rest and live a peaceful life; then he realized he should thank the priest who had given him the kettle. He gave half of his earnings to the preist's temple and told the priest he wanted to return the kettle to him and asked him to take care of it. The priest assured the junkman he would look after his friend the teakettle, and they lived many happy years together; the priest never tried to boil water in it again, and placed it on his teakwood table in a very special place in the temple where all could admire it.

The Dancing Kettle is typical of the other stories throughout the book, in that it is a brief, entertaining story with a couple of main characters (most of the stories have two or three characters maximum), that exhibits Japanese culture or beliefs and often presents a moral of some sort at the end - not really like Aesop's Fables exactly, but an inherent lesson that can be learned. For example, in The Old Man with the Bump, a greedy neighbor desires to get a bump removed from his face like the old man did at the beginning of the story. He poses as the old man when he learns how he lost his bump, so that the spirits of the forest could remove his as well; the fairies realize the neighbor is an imposter, and instead of removing the bump from his left cheek, they give him a second bump on his right cheek. The neighbor realizes he should not have been dishonest and says "Never again will I try to be someone else." (the moral of the story).

Folk tales are stories told in the beginning years of many cultures/civilizations, Japan and America being two of them in particular, that were circulated by word of mouth and later put into book form. These tales, part of folklore culture, reflect and recount a particular culture's traditions, music, legends, beliefs, and customs. For example, most of the stories in The Dancing Kettle use at least one Japanese word (which I had to look up the meaning of), which gives the reader a glimpse into Japanese culture and tradition. Several of the stories also mention Japanese gods and goddesses, revealing that aspect of Japanese culture. There is also a recurring theme in several of the folk tales regarding kingdoms under the sea - often where kings, queens, and princesses reside, which must also be a belief of Japanese culture (could this be similar to Greek mythology?) In Urashima Taro and the Princess of the Sea, the tortoise addresses the main character as "Urashima-san." In Japan, adding "san" to the end of a name is a way to show respect or honor, similar to how we use Mr. or Mrs. Since Urashima had saved the tortoise's life, the tortoise was indebted to him, respected him, and honored him. He showed this adoration by referring to him in this manner. This is just another insight into Japanese culture that this children's book reveals to readers. All stories in the collection also depict imagery of the Japanese countryside - gardens, mountains, forests, the sea, and rice fields are vividly described in the book.

There is a glossary and pronunciation key at the end of the book which would be extremely helpful for young readers.

I really enjoyed reading this collection of Japanese folk tales. It gave me quite a bit of insight into certain customs, traditions, and ways of life of the Japanese people. I would recommend this book to librarians who would like a diverse selection of cultural books in their libraries. It would be an excellent choice for young readers and a good representation of a title on Japanese heritage. It would also be a good book to choose for a unit on folk tales - you could compare American folk tales with Japanese folk tales and discuss their similarities and differences. Reading books and teaching units like this certainly do help us move towards "one world," as the author hopes the reading of The Dancing Kettle will encourage. Even though American children have probably never heard stories such as this, basic themes of the downfalls of being greedy and foolish are contained in the tales, just as in some of our American folk tales.

Yoshiko Uchida also wrote a second volume of 14 more folk tales titled The Magic Listening Cup: More Folk Tales from Japan. Other books written by Uchida include: The Bracelet; Journey to Topaz; Desert Exile; Picture Bride; The Wise Old Woman; and Journey Home.

International Book Awards - The Carnegie Medal & the Governor General's Literary Award

The Carnegie Medal is an award sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals given to the most outstanding book published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The Governor General's Literary Awards are awarded in Canada and are given to children's books for both text and illustrations. I assume that this award is comparable to our Newbery and Caldecott awards here in the United States.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was written by Terry Pratchett and was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 2002. This book is about a talking, intelligent cat named Maurice, who becomes the leader of a group of rats who have also become intelligent (and have a couple of their own leaders within their own rat clan), as well as a boy named Keith who plays a flute. Maurice has convinced the boy and the rats to fool towns and swindle their money. Maurice wants Keith to become a "pied piper" and tries to persuade him to help rid a town of rats and get money for it - by using the town's existing rat tunnels and running the non-intelligent rats out of town. While settling in a particular town to try this, Keith meets a girl named Malicia, who is the mayor's daughter. She helps Keith, Maurice, and the rats in their quest to conquer the tunnels and outwit the town's "rat catchers," and they discover that the "rat catchers" are actually swindling food from their own town (the town is in a state of severe famine). The rat catchers are also not really getting rid of the rats, but are instead putting them in dog-pins to get mauled, and locking the survivors in cages. By the end of the book, the intelligent bunch frees the non-intelligent rats, exposes the rat catchers, returns the town's food that was being stashed by the rat catchers, and convinces the Mayor and the town council that rats are not the enemy. The townspeople and the rats end up creating a living relationship with the rats and negotiating rules of existence for both groups whereby the rats promise not to eat their food, and the people promise not to set traps or put out poison for the rats. Maurice, however, is a cat who cannot change, and he goes on to another town and targets a new "non-intelligent" boy to manipulate.

It was a real struggle for me to get through this book. I did not see why it won an award. Most of the children's books that I have read that have earned awards are obvious to me why they won the award; this one was not. I did not understand why the book was as drawn out as it was - I thought the point of the story could have been expressed in a much shorter amount of pages than it was. I did not enjoy the descriptions of the rats when they were put into a "dog-ring" to be eaten by dogs and were attacked, killed, and mauled. I thought some of the descriptions and some of the storyline was a little graphic for young readers. I also thought the overall storyline about the Pied Piper was not original. Some of Maurice's thoughts and experiences when hearing voices of the Rat King were eerie, and something that I did not think was necessary in this type of book. I would not really recommend the book. I did enjoy one particular quote which I thought was a nice metaphor: "If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else's story." I did think this was a true statement and a nice underlying theme to the book. Another quote which ends the book is also true: "The thing about stories is that you have to pick the ones that last." Because I believe that statement as well, I do not recommend this book because I do not think this story is one that is profound nor extremely interesting nor one that I will remember for years to come. It just doesn't strike me as that type of book.

Skellig was written by David Almond and received the Carnegie Medal in 1999 and was originally published in Great Britain. This story is about a little boy named Michael who moves to an old, run-down house in need of much repair with his "Mum," dad, and new baby sister, who is ill. He did not want to move to the new house and he is bitter about the change. He is constantly trying to get outside, out of the house. His mom and dad kept telling him to stay away from garage, which was so dilapidated that it was almost falling in, but this only intrigued him more. Michael was very unhappy and worried about his sister being so sick. His parents were always busy fussing over her so he was able to easily slip past them and go to the garage. Every time he went near it and stepped inside he heard scurrying and scratching of critters. But one evening he went further and discovered someone lying on the floor moaning and unhappy. Startled, he ran out, but he quickly became obsessed with who was in the garage, why he was there, and if he was dreaming the whole thing. But each time he went back the "person" was still there, in pain, and suffering from "Arthur itis." Michael kept asking him who he was and WHAT he was, but he always answered "no one," and "nothing." Michael wanted to help him and asked him what he could do. The only reply he got was to bring an aspirin, a brown bottle of ale (beer), and "27 and 53." Michael knew these were Chinese menu items from the restaurant from where he and his dad often got take-out while Mum and the baby were at the hospital. That night he got all of these items and brought them to the man in the garage, who ate so fast and declared 27 and 53 were
"sweetest of nectars" and "nectars of the gods." It was not long before a little girl named Mia, who lived next door, came over to meet Michael one day when he was leaving the garage. Mia did not go to school; she and her mother believed that education was something that could be learned at home, by studying art and poetry. Mia was enchanted with birds and sketching them; she had an entire journal of birds and drawings of their skeletons, wings, and habitats. She showed him a secret place (her grandfather's old house which her family was going to fix up eventually) where a family of owls nested. In return, Michael decided to show her the person in the garage so she could help him decide if he was real, and to see if she could help make him better. When they decided to help him sit up and move him to Mia's grandfather's deserted house (where the owls lived), the children discovered that his shoulder blades had something attached to them, crumpled up: wings! They knew he must be an angel, and they realized that he needed some help to get better. He finally told them his name was Skellig, and that he was "something like a bird, something like a beast, something like an angel, something like you, something like me, something like that." In the meantime, between visiting Skellig, Michael's parents told him something very serious was wrong with his baby sister, and that she was going to have to have an operation. Skellig seemed to be getting stronger because of Mia and Michael feeding, and the owls bringing sustenance to him as well. One evening, the night of the baby's surgery, Mia and Michael could not find Skellig at the house. The next day, Michael awoke to hear good news that his sister was going to be okay, and his Mum told him of a strange dream she had the night before the operation: she had dreamed she was sleeping in the baby's room and that a large figure with wings was looking over the baby, and he picked her up and they stared in each other's eyes, and they looked like they were dancing, and transparent, faint wings appeared on the back of the baby, and the figure's wings glowed as well, then he put her down and was gone. Michael knew that Skellig had visited his little sister which helped her get through the operation okay. He and Mia did get one last visit from Skellig, who confirmed he had visited Michael's little sister. The three of them hugged one last time and he was gone. A few days later, builders came to knock down the old garage so they could make the garden bigger, and the baby came home from the hospital. Mia visited so she could meet the baby for the first time, and brought her a gift: a picture of Skellig. A name was finally given to the baby: Joy.

This book had parts in it that reminded me of A Bridge to Terabithia. The relationship between Michael and Mia was similar to Jess's and Leslie's relationship. In both stories, the boys are not as educated in the ways of art, music, poetry, and the imagination, like the girls are. They really do not believe much in things they cannot see or things that are unfamiliar to them, but the girls teach the boys that faith is important. Leslie is drawn to Jess just as Mia is drawn to Michael, and they become inseparable friends, always sneaking out together to go to secret places - Michael and Mia to see Skellig at the old house, and Leslie and Jess to Terabithia in the woods, where no one else can find them. One scene in particular in Skellig really reminded me of A Bridge to Terabithia - when Mia's mother invited Michael in to learn about poetry and art, using modeling clay to make things in their house instead of going to school that day. This is similar to the scene when Leslie's mother invited Jess in to their house to help paint a room, and they were all free to express themselves artistically, just as Michael and Mia were with the clay.

I would recommend Skellig to children everywhere - it's a wonderful story about angels, believing, and helping others. It's a reminder that hope and faith can make almost the impossible come true. Michael's little sister gets better because of an angel, who only Michael and Mia have seen. Michael tried to nurse Skellig back to health with food and medicine, just as Michael's mother and the doctors were trying to make the baby better. This book will bring the message of hope to children and will let them know the importance of faith. It is actually appealing to people of all ages, and has been translated into more than 30 languages around the world. Skellig became a radio play on the BBC, and was adapted for the stage in London. In addition, a movie and an opera based on the story have been produced.

The Governor General's Literary Awards are given in Canada and have separate prizes for text and illustration. Monetary prizes of $15,000 are given to winners in each category, and publishers of the winners receive $3,000 for promotion.

Dust, written by Arthur Slade, received the Governor General's Literary Award in 2001. This suspenseful fictional chapter book for young readers is about an 11-year-old boy named Robert whose 7-year-old brother, Matthew, mysteriously disappears when walking to town one day to buy some candy. Matthew gets in the truck with a stranger in a cowboy hat with gloves on his hands who promises to take him to town to get the candy. Robert feels responsible when he learns of his brother's disappearance because his mother had asked him to go to town with Matthew but Robert didn't want to; he was reading an adventurous book because he wanted to escape from his chores and his family and pretend he was in stories like The Warlord of Mars, Tarzan of the Apes, and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, all books his uncle had snuck to him to read when his mother (who only wanted him to read the "Good Book," the Bible) was unaware. The Royal Mountie police investigated Matthew's disappearance for quite some time, but the only clue they ever found along the road to Horshoe where he was last seen was his hat and a broken clay jar that had contained red dust. Weeks then months went by, and it seemed to Robert that his parents and the Mounties had given up. He was worried that Matthew would soon be forgotten and any memories they had would be gone.

The story takes place during the Depression era in the small town of Horshoe in the province of Saskatchewan during a drought, where farmers are desperate for rain for their crops. Shortly after Matthew disappeared, a man named Abram Harsich comes to Horshoe and invites people to attend an event where he proposes the building of a rainmaking machine. There he mesmerizes people with a magical mirror of sorts where they believe everything Abram says and see all their dreams and fantasies inside the mirror. Robert sees a vision of his uncle who had died in World War I in the mirror, while his mother sees Matthew. Robert and his uncle soon become a minority in a town that believes Abram can bring rain and prosperity to their town, and end the drought that has plagued Horshoe for what seems an eternity. All the men in Horshoe sign an agreement to help Abram build the rainmaking machine in exchange for not having to pay their land debts to the bank. But Robert continues to feel uneasy about Abram and confides in his uncle about strange things he has noticed. Abram had pulled Robert aside one day and said that he could make his dreams come true, if he would only trust him, and that he knew his brother Matthew was safe. He asks Robert if he knows what dust is, and Robert replies "dry dirt." Abram says dust is "soil without enough moisture to bind it together. It'll give you as many years of life as grains of sand squeezed in your hand. But I have many more years than a fistful of sand. Many more. All because of dust."

On Matthew's birthday months later, Robert went to town because he was so discouraged that his parents didn't even acknowledge that it was his brother's birthday. There, he saw Abram unloading parts for the rainmaking machine off a train with some other men. Robert decides to go to Abram's house while he had the chance to see what he could find. He first goes to the rainmaking machine and takes a brick and throws it at the many jars of red dust inside, breaking them one by one. Then he goes to Abram's house and inside he discovers a trap door underneath the floorboards. He goes inside and finds several children who had been frozen by Abram. He breaks them free as quickly as he can and is unable to save them all, but many of them are still breathing. He finally finds Matthew, who happily is still alive, and he breaks him free from the ice. Abram appears during this and he struggles with Robert but eventually the rainmaking machine and the breaking of the jars of dust cause him to be engulfed and he fades away magically. The Royal Mountie who had been investigating the case showed up just as Matthew was breaking the children free and is dumbfounded at the scene. He helps the children to safety and reunites them with their parents. As he is driving Robert and Matthew home, Robert tells the Mountie he's "got it from here," and takes Matthew inside. His mother and father can't believe it, and they praise Robert for not giving up and for finding Matthew and bringing him home.

This book was very suspenseful and very intriguing. I couldn't put it down, wondering what had happened to Matthew. I knew that Abram had done something with him, but you don't know until the end of the book what exactly he had done. I enjoyed the book actually until the very end, because the magical things that happened obviously aren't realistic. There is of course no way that those children would be alive still, having been frozen like that for who knows how long - in the story, Matthew had been gone for at least a year or more, and there is absolutely no way he would be alive still. The point, though, is to never give up hope, and that is exactly what Robert does - he doesn't give up until he finds Matthew.

The book was unique, for sure, and some people would enjoy it. I don't know that I disliked it completely, but it certainly wasn't one of the best books I ever read. I do think the author does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the environment and time period in which the story takes place. The reader gets a good feel of what life is like during the Depression era in a town of Saskatchewan during a drought. The townspeople's dependence on rain is felt and their desperation for green fields and crops is evident. The title of the book, Dust, is a good one - not only because of the role dust plays with Abram's character, but also because the province is so full of dust because of the drought that even their counters in their kitchens are covered with the film, and the food and dishes in their pantries have to be covered up so the thin layers of dust don't cover everything. The author is a very good writer and is able to paint vivid pictures with his descriptions.

Bridge to Terabithia - The Book and the Movie

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson is a 1978 Newbery Medal winner written for ages 9 to 11. This book was written in 1977 and was made into a feature film by Walt Disney Productions in 2007. A television production based on the book was also done in 1985 by PBS, but this review will concentrate on the Disney film.

This is the story of Jess Aarons, a ten-year-old boy with four sisters; his second to youngest sister Maybelle worships the ground he runs on. Jess is passionate about running, and competes daily at school against boys in various grades, always victorious. However, one day his new neighbor Leslie Burke (the first girl who ever dared to try to run with the boys who is quite a tomboy herself) enters his heat and wins by a long shot. The two start to become friends and realize they have a lot more in common than they do with any of their other peers, mainly, that they are both lonely. Leslie decides they need a place of their own where they can escape from school, their parents, and their responsibilities. In the woods they create a land called Terabithia, which is entered by swinging on a rope across a creek. Jess is scared of the unknown woodlands at first, but Leslie quickly teaches him how to use his imagination and conquer his fears by transforming them into magical situations that he and Leslie, as rulers of Terabithia, are able to overcome. They develop a strong friendship in their make-believe land, and are able to face their challenging home and school lives because they know Terabithia is waiting for them later. The two even work together and learn to accept the school's biggest bully when she becomes outcast for something embarrassing, and they help her realize she is not alone and others have felt humiliated just like she has. Leslie teaches Jess how to be courageous and happy instead of scared and angry.

The end of the story is tragic; while Jess is visiting an art museum with his favorite teacher one Saturday, Leslie evidently tries to go to Terabithia without him. When she tries to swing across the creek, the rope snaps, causing her to fall, hit her head on a rock, and drown. Jesse is devastated when he returns home and learns the news. He is in denial at first, and tries to pretend that she is still in Terabithia and goes to find her. He finally realizes she is dead, and attempts to cope. His sister Maybelle, who has always wanted to go where he and Leslie went, follows him to the woods, and Jess rescues her when she almost falls off a tree branch. He finally decides to build a "bridge to Terabithia" and invites Maybelle to become the new princess of the kingdom. The two walk across the bridge happily admiring Terabithia and Jess smiles as he remembers his best friend who first brought him there. He resolves to keep Leslie's memory alive by crowning the new princess of Terabithia, his little sister Maybelle.

The movie version of this story differs slightly from the book. While it sticks to the plot line for the most part, there are a few things that vary in the movie. In the book the Aarons' major source of income and livelihood is their farm, and Jess's main chore is milking Bessie the cow every morning. In the movie, however, the family maintains a greenhouse. There is even a major event in the movie that is completely added involving the greenhouse, when Jess loses his father's keys to it, which contain his keys to work as well. His father becomes very angry and tells Jess to get his head out of the clouds and out of his drawings and learn to be responsible. This is the way the movie tries to paint the vivid picture that the reader sees in the book of how his father does not accept Jess's love for art and drawing, and how he wishes Jess would do something more productive with his life.

The movie is set in a more modern time, since the teacher makes a statement on the first day of school that students are not to have any electronic devices nor download anything from the Internet. The book, having been written in 1977, obviously does not mention anything like this.

In both the movie and the book, there is a foreshadowing that occurs when Leslie writes an essay about scuba diving that impresses their teacher. She has Leslie read the paper aloud to the class. As she reads, the class, especially Jess, feels as if they are scuba diving along with Leslie, when in fact she has never done this in her life.

A second foreshadowing occurs when Leslie goes to church with Jess and his family one Sunday, and Jess, Leslie and Maybelle have a conversation afterwards about God. Maybelle says that God will damn you to hell if you die and do not believe what the Bible says. Leslie says she does not think that's true and that won't happen. At the end of the book when Jess is crying over Leslie's death in his father's arms, he asks him if Leslie is going to be damned to hell. Jess's father replies that he doesn't know a lot about God and the Bible, but he does know that God wouldn't damn that little girl to hell.

There are several relationships that are not developed as fully in the movie as they are in the book. For example, you do not see as much of Maybelle and how she worships Jess in the movie. There were a lot more details about their relationship and how she looked up to him in the book. Jess is also in love with his music teacher in the book, but this is not evident at all in the movie. There is just one part where he stares at her in the movie and Leslie tells him to "take a picture, it lasts longer," (a line not in the book), but you still don't get the impression that he is in love with her like you do in the book. Finally, P.T., the puppy Jess gives to Leslie for Christmas (and it was not for any particular occasion in the movie, it was just because she said she had always wanted a dog, whereas in the book Jess really wanted to get something for Leslie for Christmas but he didn't have any money and he saw a sign for free puppies so he got one for her), is not given as much attention in the movie as he is in the book.

In the movie special effects are used to bring the creatures in Terabithia to life. In fact, if you had never read the book and saw the movie, I would think you would not realize the creatures and events that happened in Terabithia are not real. It is not completely clear that it is a place the kids created with their imaginations; you might instead conclude it is simply a magical place that only they can see. On the other hand, since I knew these scenes were things they imagined, I thought the film did a fantastic job of painting the pictures the kids saw in Terabithia, especially the giant troll who started out as the enemy but ended up being friendly. This is the differences in movies and books - with movies, you see the story unfold through the eyes of the producer, but in books, your imagination paints the pictures for you - just like Leslie's and Jess's imaginations painted their pictures of Terabithia.

I wanted to read this book and see this movie because my son had. He told me how great they both were, and I totally agree. Though it's definitely a tear jerker, I would recommend this story to anyone. It is a beautiful tale of friendship and imagination, and even of families coming together in times of tragedy. Any child, including myself, who has made their own lands of make believe will reflect on how those lands came to life when they pretended, and will remember how happy it made them to be there. And every person who has had a true best friend who they played with when they were younger will feel a flood of childhood memories when reading this book.

Pinkalicious: A Modern Cat in the Hat Tale

Pinkalicious, written by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann and published in 2006, is a contemporary book that reminds me of the basic theme presented in Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat. Ironically, the story of Pinkalicious begins on a rainy day, just as in Seuss's book; it's "too wet to go outside." It is written in first person, from the perspective of the little girl who is never named, just as in The Cat in the Hat, the little boy is the first-person narrator and is never identified. Pinkalicious, as she is later nicknamed by her father, is delighted when her mommy suggests making cupcakes to liven up the rainy day, and asks her to make pink ones. While she is making them, the little girl begs her mom to add more pink, and eats several as soon as they are made; she even eats her little brother's cupcake because he doesn't want his. After nap, she asks for "JUST ONE MORE?" and the mother responds "You get what you get, and you don't get upset." Pinkalicious ignores her mother's rule and eats more cupcakes after dinner, then refuses to go to bed. Hanging from the chandelier, she promises to go to sleep if she can have "one more cupcake." Her dad reiterates that she has had enough. The next morning the little girl wakes up and she is completely pink! Her dad tries to wash off what he thought was pink markers, but it didn't help; even her hair was pink. The little girl loves being pink, and puts on her pink princess outfit and dances in front of the mirror, crying happy pink tears of joy because she was so beautifully pink. Her mother calls the doctor who tells her to bring the little girl to his office, and on the way out the door the little girl cries "Please, just one more cupcake!" The doctor tells her for the next week she can have nothing else pink, especially cupcakes, and to return to normal she will have to eat a steady diet of green food. "YUCK!" she says. On the way home she still asks her mother if she can have another pink cupcake when she gets home. Her mother reminds her what the doctor said: "NO MORE CUPCAKES!" At dinner that night Pinkalicious pretends to eat her green vegetables, and after everyone goes to bed she sneaks into the kitchen, climbs onto a chair, and reaches to the top of the refrigerator where her mother had hidden the cupcakes. She eats "just one more." The next morning when she wakes up she is no longer pink, but red, and she does not want to be red. She realizes she should have listened to the doctor, and she wants to be herself again. So she opens the refrigerator and eats pickles, spinach, olives, okra, artichokes, and anything else green she can find until she turns her normal color. "I was me, and I was beautiful."

Pinkalicious is the perfect example of a rebellious child who doesn't want to listen to adults. She ignores her mother when she tells her to stop eating cupcakes, and she still asks for more when her father tells her she has had enough. When the doctor tells her how to become normal again, she does not like his solution, and she still asks for more cupcakes on the way home from his office. She even sneaks into the kitchen for one more even though she knows she is not supposed to have one. But she finally realizes she needs to listen and go back to her normal self.

Pinkalicious is like a modern-day Cat in the Hat, who does not think there is any harm in messing up the house or having fun while the boy's and girl's mother is out. She does not think there is any harm in eating as many cupcakes as she wants and enjoys being pink since she is different from everyone else. She eventually realizes, when she turns red, that she needs to stop and go back to normal; this is similar to the Cat in the Hat realizing that the house is a mess and the children need it cleaned up so they do not get in trouble with their mother, and he brings in his machine to clean everything up.

There are really four voices of reason in Pinkalicious: the mother, the father, the doctor, and the little girl herself. In The Cat in the Hat, although the fish is the primary voice of reason who tells the Cat he should not be in the house, the little boy eventually comes to his senses and tells the Cat to take his "Things" away because he knows what he is doing is wrong. Pinkalicious also knows eating lots of cupcakes is wrong and eventually realizes she needs to listen to her parents and the doctor and eat the green foods. Eating your vegetables is something parents preach to their children constantly when they are younger, as is not messing up the house when your parents are away - the underlying themes in Pinkalicious and The Cat in the Hat.

Pinkalicious appeals to children (my five-year-old daughter included) because it presents the idea that eating as many cupcakes as you want is not only fun, but it will make you turn pink. Little girls especially love the color pink and it is a funny scenario to imagine. Children can identify with wanting to eat as many cupcakes as they desire. The first-person narrator is effective too; I could tell as I read this book to my daughter that she was imagining herself being this little girl. I am certain many kids have done similar things as Pinkalicious did - with regard to not listening to their parents, doing something over and over that they weren't supposed to do, and realizing later that they shouldn't have been doing it.

Pinkalicious also presents a fantastic moral lesson to children, even though it's not left as open-ended as The Cat in the Hat. The Cat in the Hat leaves it up to the reader to decide if he/she would tell mother what went on that day in the house. Pinkalicious, however, was faced directly with a decision and she made the right one: to eat the green foods to turn herself back to normal.

This author wrote two other books in this series: Purplicious and Goldilicious. Although my daughter likes these two as well, Pinkalicious is still her favorite.