Finished THE HOBBIT

Finished preparing The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien to read with Gabriel.  Two days this week a friend of his, Jacob, joined us as we read Tuck Everlasting.  We are more than half way through after one week, so we may just finish all three books (or come close) this summer.  I'd love to be able to finish The Hobbit with them.

Now I am reading Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.  It is the sequel to Wicked which I very much enjoyed.  I am almost half-way through and am enjoying it, though maybe not as much yet as I enjoyed Wicked.  It is a totally different book with a new character and a new set of problems.

Finished THE WHITE MOUNTAINS by John Christopher

Pretty good "after the apocalypse" sci fi for children.  The apocalypse in this case was the invasion about a hundred or more years ago by alien machines called Tripods, hence the name of the series.  Three children head out for the "white mountains" (Alps or Pyranees), two from England and one from France in search of freedom from the Tripods and, perhaps, resistance to them.  This book recounts their adventurous journey.  A little mundane for an adult sci fi reader's taste, but hopefully it will interest Gabriel.  Teaching is always easier with a book the child(ren) is (are) interested in.



I have now started The Hobbit.  I know, I know.  I taught it to at least one class all 34 years I taught and I practically know it by heart.  But this is a different edition that I am used to.  I had been afraid, since it calls itself "revised" that lots of good part might be left out, but so far, that is not true.  I think the cockney accent of the trolls has been toned down a bit.  My students had a really hard time figuring out what they were saying, and I think this edition is a bit easier, though still somewhat cockney.  That is the only difference I have found so far.  So, I am marking up my copy of this edition as I go (as I did the other books I will read with him) which takes a bit longer.  I'm not even sure we will get to this book this summer--it always took me from spring break until summer to teach it and sometimes we didn't finish (depending how much we were interrupted for testing and assemblies, etc.)  But, my students were terrible about doing homework, so all I ever assigned was outside reading with the supervision of parents (kids with more involved parents did a lot more reading which was, of course, good for them and kids without could still do well in my class by paying close attention during class time.)  Gabriel, on the other had, will do his homework--his mom will see to it!  No worries there.



This is a picture of the 1965 edition.  I can't even find a publication date on the book I have and can't find it in any of the editions included on Goodreads...  This is about as close as I can come, but...NOT.

Finished FALL OF GIANTS and TUCK EVERLASTING

   I loved Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett.  I learned a lot about the war and enjoyed the interactions between the fictional characters and the war, itself.  TR and I are now watching The World Wars on the History channel (recorded over the last three days) and are finding it fascinating.



   Though I still find Tuck Everlasting silly and depressing, I have found some saving graces that will help make it teachable.  The language is beautiful, intricate, and descriptive.  And, I think it could help children come to grips with the circle of life, especially when a beloved aged and ailing pet is lost or even an elderly grandparent.  I don't think it would do any good at all with helping deal with the death of another child or a parent.







The second book that Gabriel is to read this summer is The White Mountains, the first of the Tripods series of books by John Christopher.  So, we go from fantasy to science fiction and finish with another fantasy (The Hobbit--in abridged form) for a 5th grader!  Odd, I think, because there is little variety of genre, because The Hobbit in it's unabridged form is an eighth grade book, and because this is a prestigious Catholic school and one would think the concentration on, not only fiction, but fantasy, would be a bit irregular.  But, even worse, her eighth grader, also in a prestigious Catholic school, has In Cold Blood on his summer reading list!  Now this is a book that a Catholic school (or any responsible school, one would think) would want to help guide students through, not leave them to flail alone with during the summer!  I told Skippy to read the book with her son and help guide him...he will need it.

As for The White Mountains, I have just started.  I am enjoying the Preface in which Christopher is explaining why he took on this project and what he learned from doing it.  He pretty much repeats what another author of both children's and adults' sci-fi said to me at a reading teacher's convention many years back, "Children's books are much better edited than adult books."  John Christopher notes that children's book editors are much better and more thorough than editors of adult books.

Started TUCK EVERLASTING

I am on p 348 in Fall of Giants.  Though I am not usually taken with war stories, I am fascinated by what happens to the civilians in war and how they are effected.  But, in this case, I also find myself fascinated by the military and governmental thinking behind it.  I had never actually known much about this war, except that it was started by the assassination of an Austrian prince by a Serbian.  I never could figure how this small localized conflict could have escalated into a World War.  But now I see that an overzealous monarch in Austria, wanting revenge instead of justice, made impossible demands on Serbia and the very alliances in Europe which were supposed to be a deterrent to war embroiled the entire continent in it.

I am also reading Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt.  I have read this before and HATED it.  A friend at swimming put into words exactly how I feel about it--"It is silly and depressing."  However, another friend's child is required to read it over the summer and I have agreed to help him comprehend it, and help develop his comprehension skills in general at the same time.  I am on p 22 and am surprised at how beautifully it is written.  It is also quite easy to devise questions for, as well as great material to teach a child how to devise questions for himself (and therefore self motivate). So, maybe it won't be quite so bad after all.  I won't tell him that I hate it until we are finished to allow him to have his own opinion.

Finished DESTINED

I really enjoyed this book.  I love the world this is set in, the imagination, the wonderful characters.  A new character was introduced in this book, and he is very interesting.  The reappearance of Heath has a number of people on Goodreads upset.  What is the matter with these people?  Aren't they human, too?  I think the way was prepared for this to happen...the last time Zoey saw him he was in the Otherworld preparing to return to Earth for another life.  If you thought we were done with him, you haven't really noticed how this world works.  Heath will add more conflict for Zoey, for sure, but other things that happened in this book have helped her gain allies, and this may as well.  Bring on the next book and Heath...

I am about to start Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.

Finished about Half of EARTH, A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO THE HUMAN RACE

I have now read about half of this book.  Though humorous in a pretty cynical way, it reads more like a textbook, or collection of primary sources, that with any fiction style.  And, I think my own reading experience is preventing me from enjoying it to my fullest capacity.  I am very good at "suspended disbelief," and by that I mean I jump into fantasy worlds and science fiction worlds easily.  I quickly accept the premises the author gives me and lose myself in another world with great relish.  I'm perfect willing to accept the premise that this is written for alien races who might visit this planet after we have all died, but the cynicism and the constant reference to current tv programs and politics belies the premise.  That rather rattles my sensibilities and I can only take so much of it at a time.  I will return to the book later--but it may be a year or two from now--I relegated it to the bottom of my non-fiction/ humor/ biography pile.



Am now two chapters into Destined, a House of Night novel by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast.  This is the tenth book in the series.  Needless to say, I am enjoying the series mainly because I really like the characters and the fantasy world it is set in.  I needed a book right now that wouldn't jar the rules set up in the premise, and I can count on the Casts (I hope.)

Finished the first section of THE LOST SCRIPTURES

This first section was the Non-Canonical Gospels (still not sure what that means, exactly).  Some were quite readable and interesting.  They added to the gospel stories we have already heard, giving more detail or changing them slightly.  The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (reportedly by Judas Thomas, his twin brother) reported things Jesus did between the ages of 5-12, including the trip with the family to Jerusalem.  The Proto-Gospel of James shed much more light onto Jesus' parents and was ostensibly by Jesus' older half-brother, a son of Joseph before being widowed and meeting Mary.  Other Gospels were much more difficult--dry, redundant, and lecturing.  I am now on p 91 and will stop for awhile, coming back to the book later.



I have now started Earth (The Book)...A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, by the writers of The Daily Show.  It is not as funny as I'd hoped and I may not finish it, but I am now on p 50 and am curious as to where it is going.