Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

 

Book Title: Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Author: Beverly Cleary
Book Series: Ramona Quimby series
Reading Level: middle-grade (3rd through 5th grade)
My Rating: 5/5 stars
Content Rating: G
Tidbit: Eight-year old Ramona Quimby is just trying to survive 3rd grade and do as well as she possibly can at the job she's been assigned in her family.

Third grade isn't for wimps! Just ask Ramona Quimby. When Ramona's father decides to quit his job and go back to school, some things in the Quimby household have to change. Ramona's biggest responsibility is getting along with 4 year old Willa Jean, the granddaughter of the woman who watches Ramona and her sister after school. It's not a job Ramona enjoys. She also doesn't enjoy the cheaper meat her mom prepares for meals; nor her new classmate, whom she refers to as Yard Ape. When Ramona overhears something her teacher says after an egg-fad gone wrong, Ramona is sure this will be the worst year ever. She'll soon learn, however, that there are bright spots on even the cloudy days. 

So I loved this book! I dont think I ever read it when I was young. But I'm glad my daughter did! There were a few parts that made me chuckle out loud. I loved seeing things from an 8 year old's perspective. True, I was 8 once. But that was a very long time ago, and I don't remember how things felt. It was good to be reminded that the things that are hard for my daughter right now may not be hard for me, but they ARE hard for her! I also could identify so well with Ramona's parents, now that I'm of that general age.

My daughter loved this book. She is continuing the series (though I know now that this is book 6... oops).

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

 

Book: Charlotte's Web
Author: E. B. White
Reading Level: Middle-grade
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Content Rating: G

My daughter's 3rd-grade class started reading this, and I realized I've never actually read it! I've seen the cartoon movie (was it made in the 1980s? That's when I watched it!), so I knew the story. But I'd never read the book! So I set about to remedy that.

That cartoon movie follows the book so well that I almost feel as though I HAD read the book. And while reading the book, I couldn't help but hear the movie's songs in my head:

I open up and talk! Talk talk talk talk, I can talk!

The fair is a veritable smorgasbord...

I guess what struck me most with reading this book as an adult was how it deals with the topic of death (quite a bit) for a young audience in a way they can relate to. Death is a hard and heavy subject for most people, but especially for children. I think it's handled well here.

There are other, happier themes in the book too, though. Friendship, of course, and love. I think those themes help balance the heavier topics.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

 

Book Title: Heidi
Author: Johanna Spyri
Reading Level: Middle-Grade/YA (grade 5 through 8)
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Content Rating: G

I'm 41 years old and this is the first time I've ever read this sweet Children's Classic! This was our most recent family read aloud. I thought it was wonderful! My husband and kids enjoyed it as well (though my 6 year old son wasn't as enthralled as my girls were).

Heidi is a little orphan girl whose aunt takes her to live with her grandfather, the crotchety old man the villagers all call Alm-Uncle, high up in the Swiss Alps. But Heidi's innocence and pure love change her grandfather and all who come to know her in both the Alps and in Frankfurt where she is later taken to be a companion for a young girl who is wheelchair-bound.

There were some laugh-out-loud moments, and a lot of sweetness. And while I don't think it's an accurate depiction of real life, I still think it's a wonderful book with so much goodness. I can see why it's considered a classic.

Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

 

Title: Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock
Author: Carolyn Keene
Reading Level: middle-grade
Movie rating equivalent (in my opinion): G

It was very interesting to read this as an adult. In my pre-teen years, I loved Nancy Drew and read all these original books. I didn't remember them seeming quite so unrealistic back then. But I was young, and they are certainly written for young girls. And I think they are perfect for readers moving from early chapter books into middle-grade books. So while I can't say I enjoyed the story as an adult, I 100% feel this series has merit and is still a great choice, and I'm so glad my daughter loved it and is now on the 3rd in the series!!

 

If I had to apply a movie rating to this book, I'd definitely rate it a G.  Though my daughter did say she felt anxious during a couple parts, it was nothing too scary.  And there certainly aren't any other content concerns with language, mature themes, or otherwise.  

Also, I may have known this before, but I forgot it: Carolyn Keene wasn't  a real person!! It was a pen name for a variety of writers over the years. It makes sense, of course, but I felt surprised when I googled it.

On the Banks of Plum Creek -- Laura Ingalls Wilder

After leaving "Indian Territory," the Ingalls family arrives in Minnesota and trades their waggon and team for the dugout home and ox team of a man wanting to head West. Pa has big dreams of the wheat crop they are sure to garner and how wealthy they will be as a result. It is a beautiful beginning for the family as the girls enjoy playing in nearby Plum Creek while Pa begins creating a field for planting wheat and then builds a beautiful home for the family on credit -- which he plans to pay back once he harvests his wheat. The girls even start to school for the first time in their lives.

But soon the family learns what the locals meant when they said the mild Winter was grasshopper weather. Because the week before the wheat is ready to harvest, a plague of grasshoppers fall from the sky and eat every living plant in sight -- including Pa's beautiful wheat. Forced to find work to pay his debts, Pa leaves the family and walks East. Ma and the girls hold down the home-front while Pa is away -- not once, but twice -- and learn how harsh a Minnesota blizzard can be. And they all learn the most important lesson of all: what matters most is family.


***Another great book in the Little House on the Prairie series. I love reading about life from Laura's viewpoint in the 1800s.

Brave New World -- Aldoux Huxley

***Thought provoking for sure. Depressing to me. Not my favorite dystopian novel. One thing I do find interesting that is common among several dystopian novels is their view of motherhood, or child-bearing. In The Giver, child-bearing is viewed as a lowly "assignment." In BRAVE NEW WORLD, the term mother is considered pornographic. Again, in both books, the idea of the traditional family is balked at as ridiculous and unnecessary. How interesting it is to me that these books which are written to point out how awful these so-called utopias actually would be also break down the fundamental unit of our society. Methinks the authors, whether consciously or not, recognized the importance of the traditional family.

Jane Eyre -- Charlotte Bronte

Orphaned at a young age, Jane Eyre found herself the charge of an unloving aunt-in-law who despised her and eventually sent young Jane away to a school for orphans. Finding there a kind teacher and headmistress, Jane is able to blossom and eventually become a teacher at the school. But Jane is not content to stay put. Eventually she desires to expand her horizons, so she advertises her services in a newspaper and is soon hired on as a governess in a wealthy home. There she meets Edward Rochester, the owner of the home. Though at first he is off-putting in his sternness, he and Jane eventually fall in love and plan to be married.

But life has other plans. A long-held secret is revealed on Jane and Edward's wedding day, causing Jane to flee Thornfield Hall. She finds herself a pauper and happens to beg at the right home in a little town. There, the local parson and his sisters take her in and nurse her back to health. Given a chance to begin afresh, Jane proves her strength as a woman and eventually comes into her own.

***I think I simply don't like the style of writing of some of these 19th-century English novels... They are so wordy that I take forever to get into them. I am a lover of language, but these just seem superfluous. That said, once I got into the story, I was excited to continue reading. There were unanticipated twists that Bronte added to the story expertly. I found myself wondering what decisions Jane would make as the story drew to a close and was almost certain, for a while, I would be disgusted with her choice. I was pleasantly surprised at the end, though. All in all a good read. Just wish there was a little less (what I consider) unnecessary description.

The Hiding Place -- Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom grew up in a house full of love with her three siblings, her parents, and several aunts. Bible-reading was a central part of daily life for the ten Boom family; as was love and kindness. Yelling in anger was not a part of their household. Service to others less fortunate, though they themselves were not wealthy and several members of the family even suffered from serious health issues, was a way of life for the family. And so it was that many Jews found refuge through the help of this family during World War II when Germany occupied Holland.

Corrie ten Boom, her father Casper, and her sister Betsie -- all three of them still living in Corrie's childhood home -- soon found themselves central to an underground effort to help Jews to safety. Over the course of many months, they helped to save many lives and witnessed miracles they were sure came from the Lord. But eventually, they were found out and all were arrested. What followed were horrors most can only imagine. Yet with faith and hope Corrie continued onward, learning the lessons she felt God would have her learn and helping the people she felt He would have her help. Through it all, she learned about love and forgiveness, and then she taught what she'd learned: that when God commands us to forgive, He also sends with the commandment the forgiveness, which comes through Him.

**I'll admit it did take me a while to get into this book. A couple of chapters. But once I got into it, I loved reading it and wanted to read more. Amazing true story about turning our hearts over to the Savior and how He can heal us. It was amazing to me how Corrie spoke so highly of her sister and acknowledged her own downfalls when I can't help but admire Corrie for her strength and faith. I have a lot to learn about how to be better as a person!

Night -- Elie Wiesel

It is 1944 before the lives of the Jews living in Sighet, Transylvania feel the effect of Hitler's plan.  Until then, they'd lived their lives as though nothing was different; as though nothing ever would be.  They believed the war would end before they were impacted.

But they were wrong.

What begins as a sort of lock-down in their own community eventually becomes the horror of evacuation, separation, starvation, desperation, and for some, cremation.  Fifteen year-old Eliezer and his family are among them.  He loses touch with his mother and three sisters shortly after they arrive at Auschwitz, a concentration camp where he Elie witnesses horrors beyond imagination.  His one goal is to not lose his father.  So together they are herded from one camp to another.  They are beaten, abused, forced to watch others murdered, starved, worked to the brink of death and delusion.  Some lose their faith, others hold to it for dear life.  And in the end, none is spared the atrocities of knowing horrors no human should ever need to face.


** Though incredibly hard to read, considering the subject matter, this is a good book.  I felt horrified by some of what is shared.  Though I have long known of some of the torture and abuse which occurred at the concentration camps, there were some things in this book that shocked me; for I had never even considered the possibility of some of the atrocities that actually happened.  Call me naive, I guess.  I just cannot understand what kind of a mind could think to perform some of the hideous acts described.  It was eye-opening on so many levels.  And though there are images I will probably never be able to forget (conjured by my own mind as I read), I am glad I had the opportunity to see things from the perspective Mr. Wiesel.

The Post-Man Always Rings Twice -- James Cain

Frank Chambers is a drifter who gets kicked off a truck near a small gas station/restaurant in California. He decides to grab a bite to eat (without being able to pay for it) at the restaurant, and the owner, a Greek man named Nick Papadakis, ends up offering Frank a job. Initially, Frank is uninterested, and plans to hit the road and continue the life he is used to living. But when Frank spots Nick's wife Cora in the kitchen, he suddenly finds a reason to stay on and work for Nick.

Before long, Frank and Cora begin a torrid affair and plan the murder of Nick Papadakis with the goal of freeing Cora from the marriage she loathes and allowing the two lovers to begin a life together. As plans fail and succeed, and as the justice system gets involved, lies, truths, betrayals, and destruction taint the future Frank and Cora dreamed about, proving that some things can only end in tragedy.

Dracula -- Bram Stoker

As part of his job, Jonathan Harker finds himself journeying into Transylvania in order to deliver paperwork to Count Dracula, who has recently purchased property in England through Jonathan's employer. As he travels, he notes strange behaviors among the locals who learn of his destination, and he begins to feel on edge himself. He arrives at the castle of Count Dracula and finds himself in the midst of bizarre and horrible things, and he becomes convinced the Count is not a normal human being. He even finds the Count's lair -- a place rank with death and coffins. But before Jonathan, who is by now a prisoner at the castle, can discover more, the Count leaves the castle and Transylvania, leaving Jonathan to fend for himself.

Meanwhile, Mina -- Jonathan's fiancee -- vacations with her friend Lucy at the ocean in England. One strange day, a ship without a crew arrives in the harbor where they are staying, and soon strange events begin occurring there. After a night of sleepwalking, Lucy begins to act strangely -- becoming more and more pale by the day. And on her neck appear two puncture wounds. In spite of multiple blood transfusions to try to save her, Lucy succumbs to death. And by this time, Dr. Seward -- Lucy's friend -- has brought Dr. Van Helsing to see about events surrounding Lucy, her illness, and her death. And together they learn that Lucy had in fact become a vampire!

Jonathan eventually returns home to England and helps the rest of the group, for he too has intimate knowledge of vampires and Count Dracular in particular. Together, they discover the whole story of Count Dracula and set out to destroy him so as not to lose another soul as they had lost their dear Lucy.