Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan - A reivew & children's pick of the week

94 pages
Published 2009
by Greenwillow Books
An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

As I have mentioned in the past, our library is currently under construction and as such has moved to a temporary location. This location is far too small, but it is better than no library at all. Story time is held in a corner of this new space tucked in between the non-fiction children's books and the juvenile literature. Occasionally while I am sitting with my daughter listening to the librarian read a story or introduce a song I will glance around and see a book I want to examine. Last week Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan caught my eye. I'm a sucker for bunny rabbit stories (but more on that later) so I added the book to our pile to borrow and read it over the weekend, immediately fell in love with the muted watercolor illustrations.

The illustrations are by no means Beatrix Potter-like. They are more dream-like in their depiction than they are real life-like. Still, the fit perfectly with the type of story that Emmaline and the Bunny is and I couldn't help, but have my heart melt at the sight of the little bunny with notch in his right ear and two very big and very dark eyes.

The Plot:
Emmaline and the Bunny is the story of Emmaline, a little girl who lives in a very tidy town called Neatasapin (neat-as-a-pin). Unfortunately Emmaline is NOT a tidy child. She likes to hop like a bunny, jump in water puddles until she's sopping wet, and cry out words like "Hoopalala!" and "Dinglederrydee!" But the trouble all begins when Emmaline decides she would like a bunny rabbit for a pet.

Orson Oliphant, the mayor of Neatasapin is a very tidy, very unhappy man who had banished all things untidy, dirty, or otherwise wild from the town limits including bunny rabbits.

Suddenly one day Emmaline sees a wild rabbit and follows him through a hole, much like Alice in Wonderland, and discovers a place called Untidy where all things dirty and wild live -- be they animals, weeds or dirt. Here she becomes friends with the rabbit whom she names "No More Only" and learns that in order to continue her friendship she must return home and create an "invitation" -- not a card, but a place that invites the bunny to live in comfort and peace. This means dirt, untidiness, and permitting things like weeds and bushes to grow. Is such a thing possible in a town like Neatasapin? What about Mayor Oliphant?

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this little book and there were several things I loved in addition to the aforementioned water color illustrations.

For starters, I loved the simplicity of this story. It's the type of story that could easily be read aloud to a young child or enjoyed by a new reader (it was published for readers 9-12). There are chapters, but they are all short. For an adult this story could take less than an hour to read, but its brevity and simpleness doesn't detract from creative and almost magical setting.

At the same time the setting of Emmaline and the Bunny is a little bizarre. A town where everything is tidy and dirt is not permitted? A man like Orson Oliphant who yells and stamps his feet and orders everyone around? A place where people want to live, but must remain quiet, unemotional and clean as a whistle? No such place could ever exist in the real-world, but that's what is so magical about this story. It's not supposed to be real to life. Even the writing style doesn't exactly follow proper grammar. The entire story reads as a story one might hear told aloud. It is a story that one might hear a child telling. And it is a fun read.

Perhaps a big reason that I enjoyed this little book has something to do with the fact I have always loved rabbits (as mentioned above). As a young girl, and over the course of ten years, I had my own pet rabbits, five to be exact (Whitey, Snowball, Flowers, Shiner, and Mocha). I loved my bunny rabbits. And even today, decades later I can still identify with Emmaline's love for these little creatures with their long ears, their cute little hop hop hopping, and their and fur so soft and warm it reminds one of "tickles and bedtime hugs" and "summer clouds."

One last thing I liked about this book has nothing to do with the story, but everything to do with the book. Emmaline and the Bunny was published in 2009 by Greenwillow Books whose purpose is to publish only books that are "green." Green meaning not that the book is the color green (although Emmaline and the Bunny does have a green book cover) but that their books are published on recycled paper and with recycled materials. Emmaline and the Bunny is a delightful size (measuring roughly 7"x6"), the paper feels like real paper and yet trees, water, and energy were conserved even in the making of this first edition. What a great idea! I am all for recycling. It is the perfect example of practicing conversation. From the start of time people have been commanded to take proper care of the earth and everything on it -- plants, minerals, animals, and fellow human-beings I love when this is carried out in practical ways.

Emmaline and the Bunny is the second book by author, Katherine Hannigan. Her first book, Ida B... and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster and (Possibly) Save the World is on my "look for" list during a future trip to the library. I enjoy Ms. Hannigan's imaginative story-telling and look forward to sharing her books with my daughter in a few years.

Monday Children's Picks of the Week

Last weekend was very busy and I have begun my Monday feeling exhausted and in much need of sleep. Thus I am going to keep my post limited to just two books:

The Blueberry Pie Elf by Jane Thayer published in 1959 may not be a recent book, but it is a classic. It was one my mother read to my siblings and I as children and was one of my older sister's favorite books. So much so, that she sent a copy of this book to my daughter for her birthday. Reprinted in 2008 by Purple House Press, The Blueberry Pie Elf is the story of a little house elf who discovers a love for blueberry pie. But the poor elf quickly becomes unhappy because he craves this pie, but has no way of letting the humans know (since house elves cannot be seen nor heard) that he'd like another piece of pie. Until one day he leaves some footprints... The Blueberry Pie Elf is a fun read-aloud story. The black and white illustrations are fun too as they occasionally include a splash of red, blue, or purple. This book is a classic well worth reading aloud. And if you enjoy adding to the fun of reading by trying little projects I definitely recommend serving blueberry pie after reading this book. It makes for some entertaining dinner conversation when there are preschoolers in the house.

Rhino's Big Itch by Natalie Chivers (Published in 2010 by Good Books). This is a recent acquisition by our library. I was immediately struck by the beautiful and colorful illustrations. The story is a fun one to read and yet remains educational. Rhino has a big big itch and he cannot get it to go away. He seeks help from some of the other animals in the safari...except for the lion, but no one can help -- until he comes upon a little tiny bird. I loved this book the minute I saw it. I will definitely be watching for more stories written and/or illustrated by Ms. Chivers. As for my daughter, she's enjoyed "re-reading" it aloud to us and talking about "Rhino's big itch and the bird helps."

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

383 pages
Published 2003
Bloomsbury, New York, New York

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale is possibly my friend Alison's all-time favorite novel... Actually, I'm pretty sure it is. (After all, The Goose Girl was the novel she chose to give-away when Carrie at Reading to Know I had our autumn book swap themed "My all-time favorite read.") It was a little before that time that I had first learned of the book from Alison, but it wasn't the first I'd heard of Shannon Hale. In 2007 I read Austenland and in 2008 I read Princess Academy. Both from completely different genres, but both very unique and delightful reads that I highly recommend. (Sorry! No reviews.) Thus, between Alison's enthusiastic recommendation and my pleasant experience with Hale's writing I decided it was time to pick up and read The Goose Girl.

The Goose Girl is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale by the same name. It is the story of Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree (also known as "Ani"), who had to become a goose girl before she could become a queen; of a girl who had to find her own talents before she could lead her people.

I read that Ms. Hale was inspired to write The Goose Girl after reading one of Robin McKinley's novels. Hale had enjoyed McKinley's retelling of Beauty and Beast (titled Beauty) so much she thought it would be fun to write her own fantasy. I too loved Beauty, so I had high hopes for The Goose Girl. I just wasn't certain if I would like the story because of what I remembered from the original -- in typical Grimm fashion it was dark and gruesome and a little disturbing... (A talking horse head? Death by riding in a barrel drawn by horses and pierced with nails? Ick...) But as I read began to read The Goose Girl I discovered that it was equal to Beauty; a masterpiece as a fairytale retelling. Ms. Hale was faithful to the tale without making it dark or gruesome. Her version of The Goose Girl is what I think a fairytale should be filled with: drama and adventure, magic and mystery, friendship and betrayal, murder and swash-buckling revenge, love, hope, and dreams come true.

I admit, the first few chapters did make for slow reading, but once the story background was set I found myself caught up in the tale. And as for the heroine of the story, the princess/goose girl, Ani, I found her to be a perfect heroine. Neither too weak and listless, nor too bold and modern. Her character sets the pace of the story and keeps the reader turning pages -- wanting to know, caring how things will end.

Overall I really enjoyed The Goose Girl. It is the first in a series of fantasy novels set in the mythical land of Bahern. I borrowed The Goose Girl from my local public library and since they have the entire series, I intend to keep reading, so watch for reviews in the coming months. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being horrible and 5 being excellent, I would rate The Goose Girl a 4.5. I really really enjoyed it. This is one series fans of fantasy and fairytale should consider adding to their library.

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Note: Because it is a fantasy/fairytale there are some elements that may be considered magical/mysterious, including the ability to talk to animals. Some may find this disturbing, but I felt it was in keeping with the story's genre.

Note 2: The rest of the series includes (in order of how they should be read): The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and River Secrets. Ms. Hale has not ruled out the possibility of additional books in this series some time in the future. For more information check out Shannon Hale's website.

Emmy And the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Note: I am combining my Friday Finds with a book review since I found the book this week and finished reading it today.

While browsing for another book (more about that in a future post) I came upon Emmy And the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell. The title sounded very interesting, but I knew nothing of Ms. Jonell or her writing. A quick perusal of the book gave me enough information to guess it would be a fun read, so I decided to take it home. And I'm so glad I did --it is such a clever story!

The story of Emmy And the Incredible Shrinking Rat begins with 11 year-old Emmeline Addison who lives a very lonely life even though she is surrounded by people and her daily life is packed with activities. To begin with, Emmy's parents are never around, instead they spend more and more time away from home globe-trotting to such events as the Five-Day Sauerkraut Fest, Count Whaposki's polka stomp, and the anniversary of Princess Rotunda's liposuction. To add to the miserable fact that to her parents Emmy seems almost invisible, she is forced to eat and drink nasty tasting food and beverages that her peculiar, but very attractive nanny, Miss Barmy, believes are vital to Emmy's health and well being. In addition, Miss Barmy insists that Emmy must demonstrate that she is a "good girl" by filling up any free time with extra curricular activities. When she's not in school than she must be at gymnastics, or ballet, or pottery class, or music class -- you get the idea. Emmy has no free time and no friends. Like with her parents, Emmy appears practically invisible to her classmates too and her teacher can never remember her name. It is a lonely existence where the only person who will talk to her isn't even a person, it's a rat. A very mean and bad rat.

Published in 2007, Emmy And the Incredible Shrinking Rat is a imaginative story of mystery, fantasy, and a little science-fiction. In the midst of this, Ms. Jonell is able to intertwine a great deal of humor and even some moral lessons without coming across as preachy. The book, intended for children ages 8-12 is a very quick read for an adult even though it clocks in at 346 pages. There are no illustrations save for the same picture at the top of each page. However, I did notice about 50 pages into the book that if you flip the pages of the entire book very quickly the picture changes enough to look like it's in motion. Very clever indeed!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and believe it to be a great book to read aloud with a child, though like The Mysterious Benedict Society by Lee Stewart (review posted here), it is also a great book to read to one-self as an adult. If you liked The Mysterious Benedict Society I think you will also like this book. Borrow from your local public library or buy a copy -- either way it should be easily attainable and a must for your "To Be Read" list.

Emmy And the Incredible Shrinking Rat is the first novel by Ms. Jonell, but not her first published work. She has also written and published at least seven children's pictures books and I'm excited to see has completed a sequel to this novel titled: Emmy And the Home For Troubled Girls, which will be available next month (Oct 14, 2008). I look forward to picking up a copy and possibly adding both this book and the new one to my personal library.

One little note, if you want to avoid any spoilers be sure to wait and visit Ms. Jonell's website until after you've finished reading Emmy And The Incredible Shrinking Rat. No information has been posted on Wikipedia.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

I first came upon The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart while browsing in a bookstore. The second time I came upon the book I made a note to find out more about it, but didn't seriously consider adding it to my reading list. It was only after reading Carrie's review over at Reading to Know that I knew I had to read this book. And of course, having read Carrie's excellent review I feel a little hesitant to post my own, but nevertheless... here I go...

The Mysterious Benedict Society begins with Reynold "Reynie" Muldoon, an orphan who is very intelligent. So intelligent that the orphanage has hired a tutor for him. One day the tutor comes across an unusual ad in the newspaper appealing to gifted children looking for a special opportunity. Reynie's tutor encourages him to check it out, which he does. It begins with a strange test... and leads to another and another... Finally Reynie finds himself in the company of some unusual and gifted children and the Mysterious Benedict Society.

(I apologize as this is not much of a description. If you are looking for more information you should either check out Carrie's review (see above link) or go to Amazon.com. If you check anywhere else (i.e. Wikipedia) you run the risk of spoilers, which trust me, you don't want to do!)

Almost from the beginning The Mysterious Benedict Society reminded me of several other books I've read or attempted to read in the past. There's something about the author's style that appears similar to Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, or Adam Gopnik's The King in the Window, or even Eleanor Cameron's series The Wonderful Flight to The Mushroom Planet. All are stories about children who encounter adventure and danger without the aid of adults and must rely on their quick thinking, ingenuity, and bravery to solve the problems they face. And all are stories that might be considered science fiction or fantasy.

Unfortunately I never finished the first two books because I quickly lost interest and someday I might actually finish them... I almost felt The Mysterious Benedict Society was doomed to fall into the same category. I wasn't but 100 pages into this book before I started to doubt my preconceptions... At that point I felt it was overall a cute and clever story, but nothing special. I was tempted to put it down, except that I knew others had said such good things about it... I had to press on.

And I am so glad I did! A few chapters later I was grabbed by the story. In fact, I was fascinated and had difficulty putting the book down... I had to know what happened next. The fascination came mostly from the fact that (intended or not by the author) the story almost read like an allegory, but without being over done or silly -- in fact I think maybe I was "reading" into it, but I liked it all the more for what I found in the story.

The book is listed as "science fiction" and may be much more palatable to those opposed to reading any of the current and popular sci-fi/fantasy available to youth. (Although, if you enjoy The Mysterious Benedict Society you might look into some of the books I listed above, although in my opinion -- excluding the Mushroom Planet -- they aren't nearly as good.)

I don't know that I would go so far as to tell you to buy a copy of this book. I borrowed mine from the library and I'm glad I did. It gave me a chance to decide for myself if I truly liked the book without feeling any pressure of having spent money on a book I knew little about. Of course, now that I know I enjoyed it I may get myself a copy to read aloud to my daughter when she's older... or I may just wait and borrow it again form the library. I suspect it'll be around for a while.

As for reading -- the book is a little hefty at 485 pages, but it is a simple read so combined it only took me a week to finish. (Although I might have read through it more quickly if I hadn't interrupted my reading time to re-watch Wives and Daughters, which was a must after reading that book.)

In a nutshell -- this was a fun read. Put it on your list and check if your library has a copy. It would make a great read-aloud to older children, but of course is great for many of us with the child-within.

Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks

Freddy Goes to Florida by Walter R. Brooks is the delightful story of Farmer Bean's animals and their adventures as they migrate from rural New York to Florida for the winter.

It all begins when a barn swallow overhears Charles the Rooster and Hank the Horse discussing how cold the barn is every winter and how badly they wish it would be summer all year 'round. The swallow interrupts and tells how she and her fellow birds migrate to Florida and some even as far as South America every fall where it is warm and there is plenty of eat until their return in the spring. This puts the idea into Charles' head -- if birds can migrate, why can't farm animals?

Charles calls a meeting of all the farm animals and presents his idea. The meeting is a success and at first all the animals wish to go, but as wise old Jock the collie explains, they can't all go -- some will have to stay or else Farmer Bean will be in trouble. So straws are drawn and soon the winners are making their plans to leave, including Freddy the Pig, Mrs. Wiggins the Cow, and Jinx the Cat to name just a few of the motley band.

Along the way they encounter many curious sights and exciting adventures, including meeting the President of the United States, discovering hidden treasure, outwitting a swamp of hungry alligators, scaring away robbers, and so much more.

Published in 1927, Freddy Goes to Florida (originally titled To And Again) is the first of twenty-six books in a series about Freddy the Pig, although in this first book Freddy is more of a supporting character than a main star. I came upon the series while browsing my local library and was immediately captivated by the story idea. Extremely popular when it was published, Brooks' character Freddy was even been compared to A. A. Milne's Winne the Pooh, though it appears now Freddy never reached height of fame that Pooh did.

The book I read was 197 pages and a very fast and delightful read. I am definitely adding this book to my list of books I'd like to read to my daughter one day. In the meantime I hope to read some of the other books in this series. If the rest of the books can be judged based on this first book alone I know they will be worthwhile reads.

Freddy Goes to Florida is a great read aloud for children or even a simple story for the child at heart. I can't recommend this book enough to someone looking for a simple, but fun tale told from the farm animals perspective. It's rich with adventure and pure imagination.

Mr. Wilmer by Robert Lawson

I am nearly ready to post a new book review, but not quite there. And so for my post today I thought I'd discuss another of my favorite books from the meme last week.

Mr. Wilmer by Robert Lawson is the story of William Wilmer. William lives a very dull life of routine and nothing exciting ever happens to him... Unless of course, you count the smile he receives every day from the beautiful red-headed Miss Sweeney, a secretary at the Safe, Sane and Colossal Insurance Company where he works.

Even William's birthdays are dull and predictable. In fact, as the narrator tells us, William wouldn't even remember his birthday if it weren't for the usual birthday card from his Aunt Edna with the usual birthday greeting. The story opens on the morning of William Wilmer's twenty-ninth birthday. The day dawns as ordinary as any day and William has no reason to expect that it will be any different... that is up until the moment that the Policeman's horse speaks to him...

Very quickly William Wilmer's dull and uneventful life is turned upside down and his new found gift sets him on some wonderful and exciting adventures.

Mr. Wilmer is a delightful story. If you are expecting a Dr. Doolittle type story, this is not it, though I can understand the confusion considering it's about a man who talks to animals.

I first heard this story as a child when my mother read it aloud to my siblings and I. The copy she read was borrowed from a local library, though a few years later when I returned to borrow it I could no longer find it. A couple years later I went on a search to find my own copy and was successful in purchasing an old library edition published in 1945.

The story is a fun and quick read even though it totals 218 pages. Robert Lawson illustrated his story with clever pen and ink sketches that added depth to the story. As early as I can remember I have been a fan of Robert Lawson's drawings. I mentioned him before on this blog as the illustrator for the children's book Ferdinand. Lawson also wrote and illustrated a wonderful story called Rabbit Hill, which is told from the animals perspective. But far and above all his works I love Mr. Wilmer.

Although this may be a difficult book to locate it is worth the search. If your library doesn't own a copy be sure to check out some of the online used book stores. This is a treasure of a book, great as a read aloud to older children or even to read to oneself as a teen or adult.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

I used to think everyone in the US had seen the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz at least once in their life, but I learned I was wrong when I met my husband -- who to this date still hasn't seen the movie in its entirety. Unlike him, I grew up watching Dorothy click her ruby slippers together and repeat, "There's no place like home..." Even though I've lost count as the number of times I've seen the movie I had never the read the book... until now.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum has little in common with the movie. The story begins when a young Kansas girl, Dorothy, is caught up in a twister and carried to the land of Oz where she kills the Wicked Witch of the East when her house falls upon her. Finding herself in the land of Oz and amongst some Munchkins Dorothy quickly learns that if she wishes to get back to Kansas she must travel down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and speak with the Great and Powerful Oz. Along the way she meets a Scarecrow, a Tin woodman, and a cowardly Lion. When she reaches the Emerald City and meets with the Wizard she is told that she must first kill the Wicked Witch of the West before he will give Dorothy and her friends what they request. That is the basic plot of the story and that much and a few other minor details are the same between the book and the movie.

I discovered a few things while reading the book. First, how different some of the most famous story details were. For example, Dorothy's slippers were not ruby, but silver!

Second, Baum's tale for children was a little darker than the movie. One example of this is the story the Tin woodman tells as to why he is in search of a heart (it involves a lost love, an enchanted axe, losing some limbs and having them replaced with tin body parts). Unlike the movie where in each new scene someone breaks into song, the story has numerous characters some sweet and friendly like the Queen of the Field Mice and others scary like the Kalidahs (monstrous beasts with bodies of bears and heads of tigers).

Another difference is that both the Good Witch of the North and the Good Witch of the South appear, whereas in the movie only the Witch of the North is in the story. In the book the Witch of the South is Glinda (not the North as in the movie) and she doesn't appear until late in the story.

But differences aside, the story remains a classic. I personally wasn't a fan of the "darker" parts of the story finding them a little weird, but overlooking these I enjoyed the fairytale type land that Baum created somewhere over the rainbow.

I found my copy of The Wizard of Oz on a shelf in my local library. It is a hard copy 100th anniversary edition illustrated by Michael Hague. Published for children the print is larger and the 213 pages include several full color illustrations, some stretching over two pages.

At the end of the book a short biography was included. From this I learned that although already a two time author Baum initially had a difficult time finding a publisher for this book. Most publishers thought his writing "too radical a departure from the conventional children's literature of the day." Perhaps it was the Tin woodman's story, or the slaying of the wolves, or even the Hammer-heads, but whatever it was Baum did finally find someone willing to print his book... so long as he paid for the printing... which he did and on August 1, 1900 The Wizard of Oz joined the world. The book was an instant success and before the end of the year it had been reprinted twice! Baum had no plans for any additional books about the land of Oz, but after receiving many letters from his devoted readers (children) he went on to write thirteen additional books.

Having satisfied my curiosity about The Wizard of Oz I find it unlikely that I will go on to read the rest of his books, but someone who truly enjoys this first, as Baum's young readers did over a century ago, may be interested to see if their library carries the other thirteen.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket is book five in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I started it yesterday... and I finished it in less than two hours. (But perhaps I shouldn't crow too loudly since, after all, it is a children's book and thus shouldn't take an adult very long to read.)

A while back when these books were still being published (there are 13 of them) I thought about reading them, however I was turned off by the fact that the first book starts off telling you that if you like happy endings (which I do)... the series is NOT for you and you'd better put the book down. It was only after a friend and fellow book-lover mentioned how funny the series was that I decided to pick the first book up again and give it a try.

The first book starts of with the tale of the three Baudelaire orphans (Violet, Klaus & Sunny) who have just learned that their parents were killed when their house burned to the ground. Their parents entire fortune has been left to the children when they come of age and in the meantime they are to be sent to live with a guardian... who turns out to be the villainous Count Olaf, who's only goal is to get rid of the children and steal their inheritance. Each book after the first follows the orphans as they move from one guardian to the next one home to another, including the most recent -- a preparatory boarding school with the motto "Memento mori" -- Latin for "Remember you will die".

In The Austere Academy the children make friends with two-thirds members of a triplet, a brother and sister Duncan and Isadore Quagmire who are likewise orphans and in their own way come to the rescue of Violet, Klaus and Sunny. It seems at this point in the story that things, in spite of how bleak the school experience is, might be looking up for the Baudelaires... until Count Olaf shows up, attempts to gain control of the orphans and in the end causes problems for the triplets too before escaping.

I don't think it would be a spoiler for me to say that in each book of the first five books the Baudelaire's adventures, or rather misadventures, include trying to foil Count Olaf's evil plans and happily in each book they have, but on the other hand, unhappily also in each book Count Olaf escapes, always just in the nick of time.

Overall, I've enjoyed the books. The stories are very simple and thus make for a very quick read. I find that I can blow through the 200 pages in less than two hours. The happenings in each story are both funny and completely ridiculous and often impossible. Because of this a reader will either like or hate the story -- it just depends on how the reader chooses to accept what they are reading. I have chosen not to take it seriously and thus have found myself amused. One other issue that some might have with the books is the authors habit of interrupting the story to define words, especially words that generally for any avid reader do not require definition. However, I've found that it somehow fits along with the quirky story and perhaps since the stories were originally intended for children it is a useful quirk. So once again -- a reader can either ignore it or hate it, I chose to ignore it and accept it as part of the quirkiness of the book.

The one aspect of the book that I am uncertain about is the repetitive plot. As I mentioned above, in each of the first five books the Baudelaires arrive at a new home and face a new set of ridiculous circumstances, including evading Count Olaf. Each book (so far) ends with them narrowly escaping his clutches as he narrowly escapes capture. I still have eight more books in the series. I'm starting to wonder should I stick it out... or should I just skip to book 13? I may give them one more book to see how the author shakes things up because there were definitely some differences between books 1-4 and book 5.

My recommendation? A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of books designed to mimic the Victorian era "Penny dreadfuls" -- a nickname for a variety of publications, generally in serial form, that were considered cheap sensational fiction. As such, don't take them seriously. If you are curious to read this series, borrow, don't buy (almost every library has the complete set). Read if you enjoy a quick and quirky read or if you have a spare hour or two and no other urgent books waiting your attention.

Recently Read & Reviewed

In spite of how busy life has been the last couple of weeks I was still able to finish a couple books.

A few weeks back I read The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh. (Once long ago I read another of Dalgliesh's books, the more famous The Courage of Sarah Noble.) I came across The Silver Pencil while browsing the Youth section of our library, something I do from time to time.

I've hesitated posting about this book only because I wasn't sure how to sum up my thoughts or even the story. I will sum it up this way: The story is about a girl who spends her youth in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and later travels to the UK and the US for schooling. Most of the story centers around her life as a teacher and writer in the United States during the early 1900s (around WWI). TSP is a great book for a youth to read or to have someone read to them, but it is also a good story to read as an adult. There is something pure, innocent, and gentle in the book that I enjoyed. In a sentence, The Silver Pencil is a sweet story with some old fashioned humor, a worthwhile read (think Besty-Tacy).

The next book I finished was a very quick read, Penelope by Marilyn Kaye. This book is based off the screenplay for the movie of the same name. The movie was produced by Reese Witherspoon and came out in 2006... though it is only coming out on DVD this month (2 years later).

The book itself was good -- a cute, modern fairytale with a good moral tucked neatly in at the end. However there were a couple aspects I didn't like about the book. First, it read like a book based off a screenplay. This made it easy to visualize things, but in my opinion it wasn't great writing. Another book written as a fairytale which I just finished reading (more on that later) was written with a much better style. The other thing I didn't care for in Penelope was some of the modern aspects to the story. For example, the almost too obvious comment about alternative lifestyles being "fine if that's your preference". I felt as though the author felt compelled to include that and so it was there and thus stuck out rather irritatingly and as text useless to the story, just some attempt to be PC. That aside, it was a cute/clever story and worth the quick read, or at the very least -- worth tracking down the DVD.

***[UPDATE: After viewing the movie I wanted to quickly update my final thoughts on this book. Normally I'm a "book over the movie" type of person, but I have to say I loved the movie more than the book. Perhaps it was watching the story come alive on the screen... or maybe it was the fact that the things that annoyed me in the book weren't noticeable or weren't included in the movie. Either way, I definitely recommend that you check the DVD out, even if you decide to skip the book. It's a great modern fairy tale and worth the time.]***

The most recent book I read is Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse. Years ago I read two of Goudge's other books (Green Dolphin Street [aka Green Dolphin Country] and Pilgrim's Inn). I never felt too favorable towards either of those books, so I never bothered to read any of her other works. Now years later I feel differently towards GDS -- I think I would recommend that book to others, though I'm still on the other side of the fence re: PI.

That being said, when I came across The Little White Horse I decided to give it a chance. I am so glad I did. This fairy tale type story is set in the countryside of England during the early 1800s. In a way there is almost a sort of Dickens-ish about the book, though maybe it is only in the type of people you meet in the story. The writing is good and the descriptions of Moonacre Park and its surrounding lands, homes, and manors are beautiful. The names of the characters and their descriptions are unique and fairytale in a way. The story itself is charming and very enjoyable with a perfect ending that doesn't leave you feeling disgusted at its sweetness. It was definitely worth the read and if I ever stumble across a copy of this book I think I would even add it to my collection.