"There was once a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself – not just sometimes, but always." Milo is a boy who – in a later era – might be heading towards the clothing racks to find something darker than black to wear. He sees nothing of interest in his world; even the few things that he might care about he can't work up the energy to engage with. He stares at the pavement when he walks, seeing nothing around him. He waits desperately to get out of school, but finds himself so bored outside of it that he longs to be back [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Witch Family
February 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Written by children's author Eleanor Estes (best known for her "Moffat Family" books and "Ginger Pye"), The Witch Family is probably my favorite of her works. It tells the story of Old Witch, the oldest, most evil, and most powerful of all the witches, and how she was "banquished" to the great bare bleak glass hill for her wickedness by Amy, an ordinary mortal girl living in Garden Lane in Washington, DC. The action of most chapters is an interspersion of Amy and her best friend Clarissa talking about Old Witch and [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Shibumi and the Kitemaker
January 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I mentioned this book in my prior review of The Paper Dragon. They share certain similarities, not the least of them being a protagonist faced with an apparently insuperable problem who finds a clever way to address this problem. Shibumi and the Kitemaker,(no link because, to my surprise and disappointment, it appears to be out of print and only available as ridiculously expensive new copies or used copies of uncertain provenance) by the famous children's author Mercer Mayer (most well-known for his "Little Critter" [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
December 6, 2013 By 4 Comments
I first came across the Mushroom Planet books many years ago, when I was still near the target age. I was fascinated by them, drawn into a world that seemed to blend mundanity, magic, and science in an impossible brew that still, somehow, managed to work. Once I became a parent, eventually I hunted down the first book for my own children. The first of Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet still casts a spell many years after its first publication. David and Chuck, two best [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Call It Courage
November 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
It happened many years ago, before the traders and missionaries first came into the south seas, while the Polynesians were still great in numbers and fierce of heart. But even today the people of Hikueru sing this story in their chants and tell it over the evening fires. It is the story of Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid. Call It Courage is a children's novel, a Newbery Medal winner and the most famous novel of Armstrong Sperry, an author and illustrator of mostly children's novels who had a fascination with the Polynesian [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Paper Dragon
August 21, 2013 By 3 Comments
This is undoubtedly the shortest book I've yet reviewed, a children's picture book which has been a favorite of all my kids. The Paper Dragon, like another I will discuss at some point (Shibumi and the Kitemaker, by Mercer Mayer), tells a fictional tale in the style of older storytelling traditions of the Eastern countries such as China and Japan (or, at least, if this particular tale is a real folktale, I can't find reference to it other than this book). In the story, a painter by the name of Mi Fei is chosen by his [ Continue reading... ]
What You’re Saying