The Twenty-one Balloons: A Quick Review

Ramona and I just finished reading The Twenty-One Balloons, which we both found delightful. Written and illustrated by William Pene du Bois in 1947, it won the Newbery Medal in 1948, and has endured to become a classic. 

Set in 1883, the novel is part science, part fantasy, part light social commentary, and partly appealing to introverts ("As you know," says Professor William Waterman Sherman, near the beginning of the story, "I was a teacher of arithmetic for forty years. Forty years of being surrounded by a classroom of healthy prankish students. Forty years of spitballs. Forty years of glue on my seat, Sal Hepatica in my inkwell, and other devilish tricks. Long about my thirty-sixth year, I started yearning to be alone.") 

Professor Sherman builds a fantastic balloon home in which he plans to travel around the world. (Cue the Jules Verne references! Cue Up talk, and Dug imitations!) The introduction tells us that Professor Sherman's travels will take him to the Pacific island of Krakatoa, and that he will somehow be involved in the volcanic explosion that really did take place in 1883. How did he end up there? And how did he escape? 

Lots of unschoolish detours to take with this book -- the science of hot air balloons (though Ramona and I occasionally got a little bogged down in some of the descriptions of the inner workings), diamonds, mentions of the salt mines of Poland and the crystal caves of Bermuda, which had me sending Ramona to Google. Volcanos, the history and geography of Krakatoa ... plenty to talk about and explore on top of a good read. And it made us hungry! You'll have to read the book to find out why. 

My favorite quote: 

"It seems strange to me that mechanical progress always seems to leave the slower demands of elegance far behind. With all of the peace and spare time on this lovely island, why should any part of your lives be speeded up?"

I once took a hot air balloon ride and it was lovely. Now I just need to figure out how to get Ramona in a balloon one of these days. A quick Google check for companies and prices tells me that I'd better start the savings fund now.  :)

King Oberon's Forest: A Book Club Post

Ramona and I just read King Oberon's Forest for her book club. It's Hilda van Stockum, so I was pretty sure we would love it and we did.

It's quite different (a fairy tale!) from her usual fare but we found it sweetly delightful in an old-fashioned, but still van Stockum-y realistic way. We love the variety of characters in a book like this -- the grumpy ones, the realism of souls who are imperfect but manage to grow.

I don't want to give too much away, but it's the story of three isolated, self-absorbed dwarves who live in King Oberon's Forest and are changed by the people and events (and fairies) in their lives. Full of humor and warmth, with lovely illustrations by van Stockum's daughter, Brigid Marlin.

For book club discussions we've sometimes had just a snack, other times a lunch (with my personal favorite being our Prairie Thief luncheon.) This one was a full lunch, with dishes inspired by the book:

Mac and cheese
Pumpkin bread
Apples and dip
Nuts
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Cucumbers and carrots
Popcorn (which also provided the popcorn necklace stringing activity)
Cream puffs
Apple juice

Yum.

Next up in book club: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois and down the road we'll read The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop. And thanks again to everyone who threw in suggestions (here at the blog and on Facebook) for this year. The TBR list is endless, and I love that. :)

Ideas for Ramona's Book Club?

A friend of mine has done a great book club for the last few years, but we're all feeling at a bit of a crossroads. The mix of kids is tricky at this particular juncture -- this year we will have boys and girls ranging in age from six to twelve. It's hard to bridge all those gaps (not to mention tastes.)

Ideas?
Inspiration?

I think we're overthinking it, and we just need a jolt. Brainstorming, anyone?

Cynthia Lord's Rules (A Quick Review, in Which We Also Stroll Down Memory Lane With Frog and Toad)

Ramona *had* to draw last night, after we finished Rules.

Last night, Ramona and I finished reading Cynthia Lord's Rules. It's about twelve-year-old Catherine, who just wants a "normal" life, thank-you-very-much. And it's about her brother David, who has autism, but tries his best to follow Catherine's list of rules, such as, "No toys in the fish tank." (The fish, however, don't seem to mind an occasional visit from Barbie or a rubber duck.) And it's about Catherine's new friend, Jason, a silent, smart, wheelchair-bound boy she meets at David's OT office. Complicating Catherine's summer vacation is the fact that her best friend, Melissa, is spending the summer in California with her dad, and the new girl who just moved in next door is, well, nice, but maybe not the "morse code with flashlights at night" kind of best-neighbor-friend Catherine has always hoped for.

I won't say any more, but will add that Anne-with-an-e and Betsy both loved this book when they read it a few years ago, and so did I. It was delightful to share it this time around with Ramona, who was inspired by the book to hunt down all of our old Frog and Toad books. (I'll let you read Rules to find out why.)

A beautiful, funny, and touching read.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Conversation overheard between Anne-with-an-e (who works as a lab assistant at school) and Betsy (who lets her sister wear her clothes):

Betsy: You got what kind of bacteria on my Ravenclaw shirt?!

Anne: It's nothing deadly....

Betsy: Mom, she wore my Ravenclaw shirt to the lab.

Anne: ... and it's not a stain or anything. It might not have even landed on the shirt. I just saw a drop go flying....


**********

Reading with Ramona:

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, for one of her book clubs. We enjoyed it BUT we want the world to know that the book has a BIG Charlotte's Web spoiler. If you have a child who hasn't read the marvelous-wonderful-splendid Charlotte's Web, don't let them read this book. Ramona and I have spoken.

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry -- in progess. We've just begun, so can't say much yet.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo -- also in progress.  This one is depressing Ramona. She calls it part of "the Island of the Blue Dolphins vicious cycle syndrome -- I want to find out what happens and it's an engaging story, but it depresses me to read it." Betsy has assured her it has a happy ending -- "ending" being the operative word.

Reading on her own: anything and everything Andrew Clements. His Frindle may be one of my favorite books of all time. The one she's reading now -- The School Story -- inspired her to suggest that she and I write a novel together.

***********

Overheard:

Atticus: What do you think of that play?

Anne-with-an-e (who is reading Richard III): Well, basically Richard is trying to kill everyone so that he can be king. And he's doing it sneakily.

Atticus: That pretty much sums it up.

**********

Prom?! 

I am going to prom with Atticus. (Ah, the extracurricular duties of teachers.)

Last year I didn't go with him because I had to be out of town.

"Hey, this year," he said, "I'll have a date. I won't have to bring a Graham Greene book."

"You didn't read during the prom last year," I said. "You had to talk to people."

"Well, I didn't get to use it, but I had the book in my jacket pocket."

Anne-with-an-e looked at us with a frown on her face. "Had to talk to people? What is wrong with this family?"

Oh, plenty, my dear. We've just scratched the surface.

Recent Reading: Mine and Ramona's

Ramona:

* For Ramona's book club, we finished The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Margaret Sidney. 

First published in 1881, the sometimes old-fashioned language was a minor hurdle, but once she cleared it, Ramona was in this race to the end (and was sad to reach the finish line.) Lucky for us, there are other Pepper books.

We're adding the Peppers to the list of families we love to spend time with: the March family, the Mitchells, the Quimbys, the Rays and the Kellys, the Penderwicks (and many more, of course, and you know who you are, Cuthberts and various and sundry other dreamboat families.) 

I linked above to an edition with a lovely cover, but the book is also available for free on Kindle.

* The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage without Apostrophes! by Lynne Truss

Truss's books are among my all-time favorites for:

1.) Laughter
2.) Teaching punctuation, grammar, and usage. (Why, yes, I am a fan of the Oxford comma.)

Ramona's also been reperusing Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, every punctuation mark counts!

~~~~~~~~~~

My recent reading:

I just read The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor. Wow. Just wow.

That's my sputtery, completely inarticulate reaction.

Here's the longer version: The book was recommended to me by a priest friend whose taste in books is always superb, so I picked it up. I was instantly engrossed. The book was published in 1961 but its story of an alcoholic priest, Fr. Hugh Kennedy, is timeless. The writing is exquisite. A couple examples:

There are all sorts of answers suggested to this problem [of suffering], most of which are as old as the problem itself; some are foolish, others are as reasonable as the mind of man could possibly devise. But here it seems to me we deal with something reason cannot reach, and with that part of man which reason does not touch, for when someone stands fixed and helpless before another's suffering -- especially in those cases when those who suffer are plainly innocent of any guilt -- then the cool light of reason may not be of much help. A syllogism does not support a mother who has seen her baby burned. 

And:

So that when the time comes for me to go, I know that I will go with full confidence in God -- but I also know that I will go with sadness. And I think for no reason other than that ... well, I have been alive. An old priest who was dying, one of the saintliest men I have ever known, one of those who had the greatest reason to expect God's favor, many years ago surprised me by telling me, with a little smile, that now that he was going, he wanted desperately to stay.  

"A single memory can do it," he said.  

And I suppose he was right. The memory of an instant -- of a smile, of leaf-smoke on a sharp fall day, of a golden streak across a rain-washed  morning, of a small boy seated alone on the seashore, solemnly building his medieval moated castles -- just this one, single, final flash of memory can be enough to make us want to stay forever. 

It isn't, however, all sublime reflections on faith, aging, and the human condition. There is sly humor.  Oh, how I loved Fr. Hugh's observations -- full of annoyance and amusement, and ultimately affection -- for his earnest, young assistant pastor. And there are precisely drawn characters: real, funny, maddening, and heart-wrenching.

I just now went Googling for an interesting link about the book and found that Terry Teachout wrote about it. (But avoid his piece until after you've read the book if you don't want spoilers of a sort....)

Highly recommended.

School and Unschool and Everything In Between

What we've been doing:

* For Ramona's book club we just finished reading Marie McSwigan's Snow Treasure. It was slow going for her at first, but once we got into the meat of it, she enjoyed it. Here's a link to my quick review from 2006. (That was waaaay back when I read it to my then 10- and 12-year olds, and Ramona was just a pre-schooler. And here's a link to loads of other WWII related reading for younger readers.)

* Ramona has a new pen pal. Snail mail lives! We use this stuff called paper, pen, envelopes, and stamps. If you haven't tried them, you should give it a whirl. It's revolutionary!

* Science for Ramona right now is mostly National Geographic Kids and Kids Discover. These also dovetail nicely into the "social studies" category. Also under the social studies category is being ten years old and living with teenagers ... all kinds of opportunities for viewing those creatures in their natural habitat and discussing their anomalies with your mother.

* Finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to Ramona. (I edit the icky, dark parts late in the book.) All past bloggy-things-Harry are here.

* Dragon Box is still a hit around here.

* Ramona also likes several of the math games she's tried at Sheppard Software.

* Betsy, who's taking a French class at the college, is reading Pride and Prejudice on the Kindle -- in French. She's also re- (re-re-re-) reading a hard copy in English, so if she gets hung up, she just jogs her memory with that. She's surpassed me and the little bit of French I took many years ago. I do still remember how to ask what time it is and the location of the nearest bathroom. Vital stuff.

* Anne-with-an-e loves spring break almost as much as she loves dissecting things in her zoology class.  Or is it that she loves dissecting things almost as much as she loves a leisurely spring break? Either way, she's having a lovely week.

* Lent rolls along. Our Lamb of God is beginning to grow fuzzy. I can be heard occasionally complaining that I really want to have something sweet. Sugar! (Eeek...How spoiled am I? Really!?) I caved one evening, the Saturday night we were out of town for the girls' Winter Ball. I gobbled some regifted chocolates that night. (That is a story too long to go into, but suffice to say that I do a Christmas gift exchange with a friend each year, and I always give him oatmeal cookies, and he always gives me regifted chocolates, and this was the first time we'd seen each other since Christmas. A sad excuse, but the only one I've got.) Back to Lent: we have lots of talks about sacrifice and hardship, hunger and plenty, waste and abundance, sin and repentance. We talk about weakness and chocolate and first world problems.

We got ourselves to confession. We'll plan to get there again soon.

* We've started doing Night Prayer with the girls. I've used iBreviary for myself for some time now, and love it. Atticus and I also use it for Morning Prayer, and now Ramona is enjoying taking charge of scrolling us through the Liturgy of the Hours before bedtime. It's loverly.

Recent Reading

1. We read The Search for Delicious, by Natalie Babbit, for Ramona's book club this month. I just loved it, and so did Ramona. Clever, magical, funny. Our book club party is coming up, so I'll report back soon on the food we've chosen. Each family will bring two foods they've deemed to be the definition of delicious.

2. I just read Meet the Austins and A Ring of Endless Light, both by Madeleine L'Engle. I want to live in Vicky Austin's grandfather's house.

3. Also just read a book about being frugal, although it's not really worth mentioning or offering a full review. It basically said: earn more money, spend it wisely, save as much as you can. Yeah. I've got those basics down. Fortunately, I also followed my own rule: don't spend money on books about frugality. Thank God for libraries.

4. Read Austenland, by Shannon Hale. Sweetly romantic, charmingly lightweight, a quick read. I was changing the ending in my head, but only a little bit, and I loved the surprises.

What are you reading?

Our Prairie Thief Luncheon (and a book review)

So, my fab friend Danae organized a great little homeschool book club last year. It's a low maintenance thing, just a few books a year. Last year we read Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte's Web, and The Borrowers. This year, we kicked off the year with Melissa Wiley's The Prairie Thief. 

The book: 

Louisa Brody is convinced her pa can't be guilty of stealing from the Smirch family whose accusations have landed her pa in jail in a Colorado prairie town. While Pa awaits trial, Louisa has been sent to live with those horrible Smirches, and she and her new friend Jessamine must unravel the story behind the stolen goods before it's too late for Pa.

Now, before I go any further, you know how I hate spoilers.

So that is all I'm going to tell you about the plot.

What I will tell you about the book is that it's a bewitching blend of literary comfort food and spice. There is the familiar, cozy feeling that we've settled in with Lissa's historical fiction (you know how much we love Martha and Charlotte) and that we get to spend time with the realistic and sweetly brave heroines she conjures. But this book is unique, with its own surprises, not a rerun of anything-Little-House. The writing is lively and magical, and refreshingly wholesome for the intended age group (middle grade.) At the same time, The Prairie Thief deftly but subtly explores for the young reader the ethics of when to tell the truth, or the whole truth, or nothing but the truth. The tightly woven plot is a delight to unwind and the ending will leave your child hoping for a sequel. The book was loved by all in our club.

The food:

For our Prairie Thief book club lunch, we had:

Potato chowder

(I forgot to get a picture, so just imagine a bowl of delicious soup here.

And, naturally, our hostess covered her dining room ceiling with a tablecloth to prevent spiders from dropping from the dugout ceiling into our soup. )

Dried berry scones:

 a bucket of hazelnuts (Nutella on cinnamon swirl bread. 

And look! There's the soup!): 

Brownies: 

And .... (drumroll, please ...) horseradish tea: 

 

(I neglected to get a picture of the tea so I'm substituting this lovely vintage tea cup in an attempt to erase from my mind and olfactory system the rank smell of boiling horseradish.)

The final verdict? 

Well, I won't tell you how things turn out for Louisa and her pa, but I can tell you that our group adored The Prairie Thief and eagerly awaits Melissa Wiley's next book. (We hope you're busy writing it, Lissa. If not, we'll bribe you with scones, brownies, and spider-free soup. And next time we'll go with English Breakfast tea, eh?)

Food, Glorious Food

Lots of thoughts about food today.

Our Little Kid Book Club (this is not the official name, just the name I use in my head to distinguish between the older girls in my house/their book club, and the younger girl in my house and her book club) is getting together for pizza, a discussion of The Borrowers, and a screening of The Secret World of Arrietty.

In the past, we've done food with a theme for the Little Kid Book Club, as we did for Trumpet of the Swan, and Charlotte's Web. (Did I not blog about the Charlotte party? Darn it. We did some fun food for that one, too -- carnival food, served in little troughs ... fun stuff.)

This time, because it is the end of the school year,
because we are all tired,
because we are themed-out,
because sometimes creativity and planning and theming are overrated,
we will have Little Caesar's pizza.

Because, you know, the Borrowers are little. And there's the word little in Little Caesar's name, and, hey, that works when you are a homeschooling mom and it's the end of the school year.

And maybe we'll drink little glasses of water and have a little conversation and stay at my friend's house for a little while. And the kids are all little.

Yeah. That works for me.

*****

Betsy's birthday is coming up and she has requested Winning Hearts and Mind Chocolate Cake for her celebration. It has become the go-to cake at our house. 

If you make it, be warned: you will go-to that cake every chance you get. 

*****

Summer has arrived, and that means that Atticus is taking over the meal planning and cooking! 

Do I even need to expand on that thought? There are not enough exclamation points in the universe to express my feelings at this moment. Do you know how much I love that man? And his cooking?

I'm in the midst of writing another book and I really need to finish it this summer. Atticus-In-The- Kitchen will help me do that.

Atticus, Glorious Atticus.

*****

The Trumpet of the Swan: A New Book Club is Born

In a fun coincidence, it turned out that all three of us Catholic homeschooling moms were doing The Trumpet of the Swan as a read-aloud.  One of the moms suggested a tea party for the  five children ages nine and under who had been the beneficiaries of the  reading.

So, that's what we did.

The menu included:

• Watercress sandwiches (with lettuce ably standing in for watercress) 
• Slates (chocolate graham crackers on which Hostess Mom had written the children's names in frosting) 
• Chalk (string cheese) 
• Trumpets (Bugles)
• Medals (miniature rice cakes)
• Money bags (fashioned from tissue paper) filled with coins (chocolate, of course) 
• Swan nests (no-bake cookies with peanut M&Ms nestled in for the eggs) 

I just now asked Ramona if we had anything else at the party and she said, "We had juice boxes. But that's not symbolic of anything." 

Right. 

So, Hostess Mom asked the children a number of most excellent questions about the book. They answered in a most excellently cute manner (between bites) and a gastronomically, literarily good time was had by all. 

I highly recommend all of the following: E.B. White, reading aloud, my friends, and whimsical foodstuff.

Side notes: 

You can read John Updike's take on the book here. (Though I must point out, dear NYT, that Sam Beaver is an 11-year old boy, not 1.) 

You can listen to an excerpt of the book, read by E.B. White, here.