1980 - A Gathering of Days: A New England Journal, 1830-1832

Dates read: August 2010
Read or listened to: Read
Pages: 144 pp.
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I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't until the last half that I really got into it. The first half dragged a bit but it was enough to keep me going.

A few things I enjoyed:

• I liked the 19th century language - "'tis this and 'tis that". Any time I am reading a different dialect it takes a bit of getting used to, but it really added to the authenticity.
• On the back of the book, I found the following quote from the School Library Journal:

"Her characters are truly of their times, not the 1970s' sensibilities masquerading in 1830s' homespun, and old-fashioned in the best sense of the word--principaled."

I found it true that the principals of the characters appeared very authentic to their time period. Oftentimes we read of characters with modern qualities thrown into the historical time period.

• "Thus it now appears to me that trust, and not submission, defines obedience. (p. 139)" In a gospel sense, we are more blessed for trusting the Lord - that His commandments are for our good - than just complying (often resentfully).
  

2010 - When You Reach Me

Dates read: Jan 2010/Feb 2010
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 208 pp.
Rating: ●●●●○

This is a great book. The twist at the end was unexpected, but pretty ingenious.

I loved the way Rebecca Stead treated a common adolescent theme - friendship. At the beginning of the book, Miranda finds her lifelong best friend distancing himself from her. By the end of the book, she has found out why he distanced himself from her (which was not the reason she had "known" to be the case). She realized that reconciliation wasn't necessary, just time. In the mean time, Miranda formed several other valuable friendships and learned the value of stepping outside of her comfortable circle of friends.

1971 - Summer of the Swans

Dates read: January 2010
Read or listened to: Read
Pages: 128 pp.
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This was a fine book. It read quickly, but seemed to cover the same themes that a large percentage of other adolescent books cover: low self esteem, becoming friends with the least likely and that family always triumphs. These are all important but so overwritten that I feel that it takes a very wonderful book make it work.

As a parent, though, when I read about a young person who makes her friends more important than her family, I think, "Hmm, that sounds like me at that age." and "Oh, how I wish they understood." They will come to understand the importance of family. (Friends are great, too.) I hope that my kids don't have to go through that particular identity crisis. How do we do it? I don't know but we'll do our best.

2009 - The Graveyard Book

Dates read: Dec 2009/Jan 2010
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 320 pp.
Rating: ●●●●○

This was a great book. It took me a bit to get into it. (I actually started it a few months ago without finishing it, but then when I got an MP3 player for Christmas, this was what I found at the library to download--as my first audiobook on the player.)

There really are a lot of messages and themes in this book. Most come out strongly in the end. Here are two thoughts from early in the book:

The main character starts out without a name. He is given the name of Nobody Owens. This comes about as all the "ghosts" in the graveyard talk about who he looks like. Finally, his adoptive mother (I believe) says something like, "He looks like nobody but himself." His name will be Nobody. He goes by Bod. What irony! He is named Nobody, but that comes about because he is viewed as his own unique person.

I also enjoyed the part where Bod meets the witch, Eliza Hemstock. He is counseled to not befriend her because she is "not our kind". This is a typical message shared in books directed to children and young adults - that oftentimes our best friends and those we learn much from are those that we view as different. Eliza does not have a headstone and comments that everyone deserves to be remembered.

As the book ends, it is obvious that the main message of the book is the need for Bod to truly live his life instead of staying in the graveyard. I agree with this, but I love the message of connecting with our past as well. Those who went before us paved a way for our happiness and success. Similarly to things they did for Bod, I believe that there are those on the other side who are currently involved in our lives and perhaps even have ways of protecting us. I am reminded of a time when Grandpa Nielsen very emotionally pleaded for us as his posterity to not forget his grandparents (or was it great-grandparents) who are buried in a location that no one really knows about. In fact, I think I'll call grandma right now and ask her about it.

1962 - The Bronze Bow

Dates read: September 2008
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 256 pp.
Rating: ●●●●●

Whoops! I read this two months ago and haven't written anything about it! I loved the book though. It is a fabulous story of forgiveness and change of heart. It is so interesting (and a bit different) to have such an outwardly Christian message in a category of books that I don't view as religious. I was touched by the story line and the main character's journey. To me, it had a spiritual message.

1941 - Call it Courage

Dates read: September 2008
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 128 pp.
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So, it looks like I managed to read two young-people-alone-on-an-island Newberys back to back. I would have to say that hands down, I preferred Island of the Blue Dolphin. I came to know Karana's thought processes, her plans for her survival and I experienced her struggles with her. I had a difficult time connecting with Mafatu and seemed to hear his experiences as a laundry list of I did this, then this, then this, and now I am brave.

I do respect the theme of the book--that we all have fears, and for good reason. Mafatu feared the sea as a result of an accident that took his mother's life and nearly his when he was only 3-years-old. Facing our fears is the best way to overcome. It is amazing that he was able to overcome those fear on his own--without the support of those who supposedly cared for him. I certainly hope that this book is one that can give readers the courage to face their fears and come off conquerors.

This is a quick listen--only 2 hours.

1961 - Island of the Blue Dolphins

Dates read: August/September 2008
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 223 pp.
Rating: ●●●●●

This is a very beautiful story. Karana is a young girl living on an island with members of her tribe. Her community is devastated by the arrival of and ultimate attack from the Aleuts who kill many members of the tribe. Soon thereafter, a white man's ship arrives and the tribe evacuates the island to prevent future disruption. In a completely selfless act to save her brother who has been left behind, Karana jumps off the ship and swims to shore so that the young boy is not left alone. It isn't long until her brother, Ramo, dies and she is left alone on the island. The bulk of the book is an account of the many years that Karana lives and survives on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. This book is based on a true story from the mid-1800s.

Typically, I would be skeptical of a book without dialogue. (She is alone.) But he had a way of combining Karana's thoughts, descriptions of the surroundings, and accounts of her daily life that I never felt that the book was moving too slowly. I agree with other reviewers that her ingenuity and resourcefulness were inspiring and that the many ups and downs of the story (relationships with her animals, arrival and departure of other boats, etc.) contributed to the story's appeal.