Foursome the Spider, Larry Nestor

Foursome the Spider was a silly book. It is about a spider that moves into a nature center with other bugs. Foursome knows how to play golf and he teaches the other bugs to play golf. Through the game they learn how to interact with each other and still be nice to one another. It is an interesting book because it is a picture book, but there are a lot more words than other picture books I have read. It kind of bothers me really. When I first opened it, I thought, "Wow, this looks really long. I don't want to read this." In fact, there are so many words, the pictures don't really add much. You'd have the same story without them. I think the book is a very didactic book, and it is intended to teach a lesson on playing together and being kind to one another. On various occasions, Foursome knocks his seed golf ball into the territory of others and he must apologize, saying he did not intend to harm them. Many times Foursome is complimented on his kindness. Overall, the point is to teach children how to play nice. Honestly, I thought it was a little overdone, and I don't see how I would have liked it when I was a child.

The Cat's Meow, Gary Soto

The Cat's Meow is a strange story. I've never read one so strange. It is about a little girl who hears her cat talk in Spanish. When she asks the cat how she learned to speak, she tells her that a man on another street taught her. The weirdest part about it is it's all true. It just seems weird to me.

It does seem to parody parents and the way kids see their parents. In the story Graciela, the main character, thinks her parents are so weird. She sees them smear ice cream all over themselves and say funny things (her dad keeps saying, "When I was a little girl"). Her parents never seem to listen to Graciela. When she asks them questions they respond with answers that have nothing to do with the question. They also don't notice when she is gone. She just hangs her sweater on the bush in their front yard and they think she is there. It seems like the story is told through the little girl's eyes, so everything that happens is according to her imagination. Perhaps the talking cat, the weird answers, and all the other crazy things that happen in the story are just part of Graciela's imagination and her perspective on the world. At any rate, this book was quite strange.

Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan

I read Sarah, Plain and Tall when I was little, but I barely remembered it. Now that I have read it again, I see it as a growing up story. It is written through the eyes of a young girl who hopes that a new woman can join her family and become her and her brother's mother after her biological mother passed away. But it seems to me that Anna, the main character, is watching Sarah (the woman) grow up and learning that she will have to grow up as well. Anna says, after knowing that Sarah misses much of the place where she came from, "'I would miss you Nick'", referring to her dog. She seems to be saying that one day, when she must leave her home and marry someone, she would miss much of what she had as a young girl. In the end, Sarah is happy and they are a family, indicating that she has found herself, and she belongs with Anna and her father and her brother. The story is about growing up, finding yourself, and having relationships.

There are also some feminist undertones in the story. For instance, Sarah demands to learn how to ride and drive the cart so that she can go into town by herself. She also says that she can work hard and demands that she be allowed to help Jacob (the father) patch the roof before the storm comes. She is very stubborn and independent. It seems like MacLachlan was promoting these characteristics in women.

Clifford the Small Red Puppy, Norman Bridwell

Clifford the Small Red Puppy was one of my favorite books when I was little. I love the Clifford books! My sister really loves them too. She would always get me to point to each little character in the illustrations and make a voice for them. We would giggle so hard. What I find interesting in the Clifford books is the humor. Clifford is always getting into trouble by only trying to help. Then in the end, he always saves the day. But Clifford the Small Red Puppy is a little different. Clifford doesn't try to help anyone in the story; it's just a growing up tale. But I think it does have a little lesson in it too. Even though Clifford was a runt to begin with, he grows up bigger and stronger than any other dog. Perhaps Norman Bridwell wants children to know that they will eventually grow up no matter how small they seem now.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was an amazing read. It's interesting though, because sometimes I wonder if it should really be considered children's literature. I suppose it is more for adolescents. It seems like when J. K. Rowling wrote her series, she intended the level of the book to grow with the age of the child reading it. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is quite appropriate for a child in the fourth grade, but this one is not. It's more on the level of someone in junior high or even high school. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed it so much as an adult.

I have met many people who do not think Harry Potter is a good series for children because it involves witchcraft. They say that it is anti-Christian, and children should not read the series because it will cause them to turn away from their faith or want to become Wiccan. I completely disagree. Sure, there are some things about Harry Potter that are not exactly good; he has a terrible temper; he desperately wants revenge; he is not forgiving at all. But I see in Harry a Christ-figure. At the end of this book, he sacrifices himself for everyone else. He, as a young man, faces Voldemort, the king of evil, and defeats him. But the amazing thing is: he dies. Voldemort kills him, and he is resurrected. Now if that isn't a Christ-figure, then I don't know what is. When Harry is killed by Voldemort, he goes to King's Cross, which seems to be a passing between Earth and Heaven, and meets Dumbledore. He is given the choice to stay or to go back to Earth, and he chooses to save his friends and family. Sure, Harry is not perfect, but in a lot of ways, that makes him a better example for children. They see that even though they have their faults, they can still make the right choices. They can still be Christ-like.

Would you rather be a Bullfrog? Theo. LeSieg

Would you rather be a Bullfrog? I remember this book from when I was little. It's one of those silly little rhyming books that has a sing-song rhythm. It's a series of questions to the reader about what they would rather be or have. It mimics children quite a bit. I remember the "Would you rather?" questions from when I was little. My favorite was, "Would you rather be freezing cold or boiling hot?" They were great topics of conversation for a child. But this book is great because of its pictures. The pictures are what makes the book fun. It's a really random book, and the drawings go along with the randomness. On one page there is a tiny minnow and a giant whale, and then it the bottom right corner you see a very small hammer and nail. On another page there is drawn "THIS Thing... or THAT or the Thing that's in between". It's quite a goofy picture. Without the pictures the poem would be quite boring.

I, Freddy by Dietlof Reiche: Hamster Religion?

My sister gave me this book, I, Freddy, by Dietlof Reiche. It's hilarious. It tells the story of a hamster personified, who tries to be a hero and escape from captivity. He is much more intelligent than the other hamsters and encounters many funny adventures. It has so much humor in it; I laugh every time I read a little bit. For example, the hamster writes the story from first person as if he has never written anything before. He tries to justify how he writes things by explaining that this is his first time being an author. For example, he says, "There, and I'd really meant to write about the Golden Hamster Saga at this point. Still, as an author (okay, a budding author), I can imagine that my readers would prefer an action sequence first." (4). This is a great way of allowing children to relate to the story even better. He doesn't claim to be some far off, intelligent writer, but he puts himself on the level of the children: someone who has never written anything that's been published before, just someone who wants to tell a story.

There is one thing that really bothers me about the book though. It seems to parody religion quite a bit. In one chapter, it tells the story of the The Saga, which parodies the Creation story of the Bible. In it the Golden Trinity, three golden hamsters, were abducted from the Promised Land of Assyria. They were held captive, but they multiplied into the race of hamsters that is still held in captivity today by the humans. Every golden hamster on earth is descended from them. Someday, there will be the Golden Hamster Liberation Day (parodying the Second Coming) when all the golden hamsters will be released from their cage and led back to the Promised Land of Assyria.

This story seems funny, right? Hamster religion. It made me laugh at first. But then Freddy, the main character in the story, started questioning the teller of the story (his grandmother) about it because it doesn't make sense to him. He doesn't see how Liberation Day could be organized and questions the existence of the Promised Land at all. Grandmother agrees. She says that it's really just a fairy tale and the only reason it is passed down through the generations and hamsters are told to stand in readiness for Liberation Day is to keep them in check. Hamsters are greedy creatures, she says, and the only way to protect from themselves is to tell them to believe in a fairy tale.

I don't know about you, but it sounds like Deitlof Reiche doesn't have a religion, doesn't it? Perhaps he thinks religion is a good thing for society, but it seems to be a fairy tale to him.

I don't really like the book much anymore.