Feyen Girls Read No. 2

Harper: Finished up the last Harry Potter book – I think this is her third time reading the series. She also read No Cream Puffs, by Karen Day. “I like this book, because it was about baseball, and I love baseball! The characters were also really funny, and it takes place in Michigan!!!” (Harper loves exclamation points. I think she is, at her core, one, giant exclamation point.) At the beginning of May, Harper and I took a bike ride to the library and she picked up Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. This is her second Blume book. The girls and I read Blubber together at the beginning of the year, and I forgot how brutal it is. Growing up ain’t for the weak, and I wish I had advice on how to do it successfully, but I often feel like I’m still growing up and figuring friendships and myself out. I suppose that’s what’s good about Judy Blume. Well, there’s a lot that’s good about Judy Blume, but what I’m trying to say is she gives us a good, non-sugar coated story with characters that are real and awkward and awful and curious and we can read the story and cringe or cry or smile and be changed along with the characters. Maybe that’s my best advice for how to grow up. Read a story so you can keep growing up. Anyway, Harper says, “I really liked [Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself] because a lot of interesting and exciting things are happening. The characters also have a lot of personality, and that makes the book more interesting.”

Hadley: If you are a Percy Jackson book, Hadley will find you. She has super sonic Percy Jackson radar. I think all 4th, 5th, and 6th graders do. I’ve only read The Lightning Thief, and I thought it was lame, but I was in a bad place, and thought just about everything was lame those days. (On a side note, someone asked me the other day if I was “the hydrangea lady,” and it freaked me out a little bit, but I said, “Well, yeah, I guess I am, but I’m not the same hydrangea lady as I was. That lady left and hopefully won’t be back for a while. Or ever.”) However, I see what these books do, and the conversations and creativity they bring about, and I am thankful for Mr. Riordan’s sense of humor and perspective, and willingness to give kids a story (SEVERAL stories) to grow up with. Those gods and goddesses be crazy, and so are we!  Hadley says of The Apollo Diaries: The Dark Prophecy: “This book was so interesting to me because the author takes Old Greek myths, adds new characters, and turns it into a modern story. This book is SO funny and I’m excited to get the next one!

Hadley also re-read The Betsy-Tacy Treasury which just goes to show how hard it is to recommend a book to a kid because, “Oh, you like Percy Jackson? Maybe you’ll want to read Tolkien next, or perhaps the Charlie Bone series. No? You’re thinking more of girls growing up in the 1900s? Cool.” There’s a whole lot of mythology and adventure in that, too. Hadley says, “The book is fun because the characters are so happy and curious.” Agreed, although, I don’t think they’re always happy, and probably Hadley will see that as she continues to read. But let’s stay curious, even when we aren’t always happy. Let’s always be curious. (Another side note – This series was given to Hadley and Harper by my friend Rachel, who I went to grad school with. She’d met me one time, found out I had two girls, and a few weeks later, the entire series landed on my doorstep. I say a mama always needs stories for parenthood, and I am thankful Rachel gave me these. A mama also needs to be able to tell stories, and one very windy day on Whidbey Island, there was a chance to read from our work if we wanted to. I wanted to, but was afraid. Most of the time I was in graduate school I was afraid.  I was like 90% terrified and 10% curious. Rachel erased her name from the line-up, and wrote mine down instead, and pushed me up to the podium with her great, big smile. Smiles can push, I tell you. I read a story I wrote about my Aunt Lucy, and it was funny and sad, and maybe the first time in a long time I’d felt at home with myself. Everyone needs a Rachel in their lives, is what I’m saying.

Read Aloud: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee. This is a story of mystery and adventure, and it was slightly unnerving to read with the girls right before bedtime, but we plowed through it. I’d say read this one if you like A Wrinkle In Time. (Can I tell you a secret? I don’t love A Wrinkle In Time. Charles Wallace gets on my nerves. So does Meg a little bit. But you  know what? I get on my nerves sometimes, so there you go.)

Me: Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana. I wrote about this story a bit here, and I’m so glad we own this book. I hope Hadley and Harper read it someday (Harper has about 50 pages left to read, but put it down because it is so sad). It’s funny, it’s heart-breaking, it’s filled with hope. It’s one thing to read about Katrina’s devastation in the newspaper, or to understand it from your scientist husband’s perspective, but tell me the truth via a story, and I am affected forever. After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson. “I can feel this story,” I wrote in my journal. I love the friendship of the three girls in this story, but I love the discussion of Tupac’s music and his life. At one point, there’s a very short discussion about Kurt Cobain, and his music. The girls didn’t love his work, and I smiled because I never understood him, either, but I did like Tupac, but I remember feeling weird about that. One of the characters in the book mentioned that Cobain’s music must be good because he was a genius, and I remember thinking that same thing. I can remember holding the CD case for Nevermind and thinking, “Well, he’s a genius, so I should pay attention to him.” But I bought a LaBouche single instead that day. Anyway, one of the girls says, “If you’re a genius, it just means you confused some people somewhere.” I loved that. (Another side note – if there was ever an opportunity to take a writing course from dead artists, I think Tupac and Cobain would have some interesting things to teach. I’d take their class. Cobain would probably make fun of me and ask me to be in a re-made music video of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and I’d say, “OK, because performing at an All-School High School Assembly is my idea of Heaven, so SURE! Let me get my pom-pons!”) Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I all caps LOVED this book. I love the main character. I love how Adichie writes setting. From the beginning, setting is almost like a character in the book, and it seemed to me that her main character was looking for herself in each place she lived in. She is figuring out how and where she fits in, and that is something that resonates with me. Not just in Ann Arbor. I’ve been this way since I was in preschool. I am constantly looking for where home is: in work, in friendships, sometimes even in my family. I also loved that the main character was a blogger, and in one scene, she and her boyfriend are arguing about why she writes. He’s giving her advice on how she ought to write (big mistake, dude), and she says, “I don’t want to explain, I want to observe!” That is exactly how it is for me, too. I hate explaining things. I just want to tell a story.

Favorite Blog Post: Ashlee Gadd’s, “Friday Stream of Consciousness” prompted a friendly, funny, and redemptive stream of texts between she and I having to do with work and personality and I’m glad to know her.

Favorite Picture Book: What Color is Your Underwear by Sam Lloyd. Read this to a group of Kindergarteners and First Graders, and you will be a hero for days.

Favorite Newspaper Article: “Tom Wolfe’s Tribalist America” from The American Conservative. I adore the last paragraph: “Ultimately, the only way we’ll get the answers is if we trouble to embark into this America of ours, sneakers laced, notebook paper crinkling in the breeze, lush phrases turning in our minds, determined to confront the weirdness in our backyard and chronicle it in a way that is—saints preserve us!—fun to read. Tom Wolfe’s work is ours now. May he rest in peace.” I hope I can always confront weirdness and awfulness too, and I hope I can make it all fun to read.