What To Read In August

This month the girls and I bring you, “If you liked this book, then you might like this one.” I had Hadley and Harper pull a book from their shelves, tell me a little something about the main character, then asked them to find another book with a similar character in it.

Hadley says she just loves that cat that comes over to play on that rainy day when Sally and her brother’s mom is out for the day.  She thinks he’s mischievous and fun – the best combination for a friend, according to Hadley (watch out, world).

Hadley thinks that if you like The Cat in the Hat, you’ll probably like Katy Duck Dance Star and really any of the Amelia Bedelia books. Katy, as you might be able to tell from the cover, has a certain idea of what one wears to ballet class and that raises some (funny) problems.  And Amelia?  Well, she means well, but she interprets directions so that there are messes of Cat in the Hat proportions (though she does have some incredible baking skills).  So, if you like The Cat in the Hat, you might like to meet Katy Duck and Amelia Bedelia.

Once August hits, Harper begins to talk about birthdays. Because, you know, hers is right around the corner. So we read A Birthday for Frances quite a bit towards the end of summer. Harper likes this story because Frances does a really hard thing and doesn’t keep the present she bought for her sister for herself (well, almost anyway).

Harper thinks that if you like A Birthday for Frances, you might like Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes, and Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. Both Pete the Cat and Fancy Nancy have their plans changed in their stories. Pete keeps messing up his white shoes, and Fancy Nancy learns that having a pappilion puppy isn’t going to be as fantastic as she thought it’d be.  But just like Frances, Pete and Nancy keep putting one foot in front of the other and they show readers that life the way it is going, is pretty special. No matter what you step in, or what kind of dog you have, or how many gum balls you bought for your sister’s birthday and accidentally ate.

I chose the delightful story Hound Dog True by Linda Urban.  It’s about a young girl named Mattie Breen who loves to write and lost a pajama button she named “Moe,” and who makes friends with a gal named Quincy. Every girl who loves to write but who is timid and who’s been through the pain of mean girls in school should have a friend like Quincy. I had about three Quincy’s in my life and I don’t think I could write if it weren’t for them.

If you’ve read Hound Dog True (or even if you haven’t), I recommend Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell.  Do you see that cover? That’s Chicago. And that little girl? She’s Sahara and she writes stories that she hides in the library. This book is one of my favorite books of all time. Sahara has a teacher who tells her class that she doesn’t fail students. “You fail yourselves,” she tells them. I hope that I am as half as good a teacher as Miss Pointy. And the mother in this story is real, you guys. She is a hard-working, passionate woman who doesn’t know so much how to help Sahara but she adores her. The last scene with these two have me sobbing every single time.

One day, Hadley will read this book and I think she’ll keep reading it for Darrell, a guy a little like the Cat in the Hat (only way better).  But I hope the story of the mother-daughter story will seep its way into her heart.

And one day Harper will read Hound Dog True and when she gets to the part about Moe the lost pajama button, she will be breathe a sigh of relief to know that she has found a good friend in Mattie Breen, whose imagination and subtle bravery are just as enormous as Harper’s.