The Boy In Striped Pyjamas
The Boy in Striped Pyjamas
by John Boyne
240 pages
Fiction, History- Holocaust
David Fickling Books
This book isn't really about a boy in striped pyjamas, it is, but really it isn't. It is really about the other side of the coin, and portraying a picture to the reader that will never be forgotten. I have thought about how to do this book review, and what to include and I have arrived at the conclusion that the less the possible reader knows before snatching up The Boy in Striped Pyjamas the better.
Even the back of the audiobook I have aims to be extremely vague, saying they "think that it would spoil the listening (or reading)" in the giving away of this plot and story. I completely agree that this is a book that you need to read cold-turkey. Reviews are good in most cases, but not in this one. Because each time you read a review, a little chip of the innocence of Bruno is chipped away, because you know what he doesn't even know of his father. Oh yes, that will surely happen even as the novel unfolds, but I think I need to let the author chip away- because he does it with an incredible disarming perfection.
I walked away from this book with tears in my eyes, and fire in my heart. What could bring about this type of treatment of other people? The Boy in Striped Pyjamas just cannot be reviewed with accuracy without being of detriment to the surprise and intrigue of the book. I will not ruin this read for you, I wouldn't dream of it. This is one of the best books I have ever read, if that isn't enough to get you to read it...I won't jeopardize the impact of it on your life for a good review at B&b ex libris. This is one you just have to read! A perfect recipient of my Stellar Five Chicken Book Award. Yep, all the cluckin' is really worth a read of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I bet you'll cluck too!!
Spoiler alert!!!
If you want to read the novel cold turkey, you should stop reading here. Go, enjoy the novel and read the rest of this after.
Author John Boyne lecture/interview:
At the end of the audio book there was an amazing interview with author John Boyne, the following words are not direct quotes, but I did jot them down as I listened to the interview, I tried to stick as close to what the authors actual words were, but these are more like scattered notes after listening to an amazing lecture. I just love them so much that I have to share with you:
There is only one normal judgment to come away with when you think of the holocaust.
A story placed at a terrible location, at a terrible time. But this is a novel. Any story requires the willing suspension of disbelief, this story is like a nightmare and the reader can feel what is coming. The older you are, the more you know and the more fearful and real it seems. To come away from the book, annoyed by the different parts is thus minimizing the bigger questions that this novel raises is a failure to see the impact of this atrocity on us as a humanity.
The Boy in Striped Pyjamas shows a juxtaposition of extreme evil and extreme naietivity. Also to deal with the complacency of the people, during the 1940's. Groups of jewish people were walking through local villages, starving and being tormented these people were known as Hitler's willing executioners. They didn't step in, didn't try to bring change. Would you have done anything to stop it? You'd like to think you would, but millions of people just like you were caught up in the complacency and didn't make a move to stop anything happening on the other side of the fence.
John Boyne hopes that this is a starting point for children that they will want to stand up and say, why did that happen? And that then they will want to read more about the severity when they are old enough.
Movie Adaptation of The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas: I haven't seen this yet, but I a dying to. I am waiting on my husband (B) to read the book, which is hard for him to do when he has a month left in the completion of his masters thesis. Soon I will get to see it.
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is the tale of a boy who finds the fountain of youth located on the 'second star to the right and straight off 'till morning'. That place is Neverland. In Neverland there are adventures to be had, and it is the dreamiest world to be for any young boy, because it contains all the fantasies with none of the responsibilities of getting older. Peter and the lost boys fight pirates, they can fly, they magically have food to eat and they get to run around with real swords and weapons! There is never a bedtime to be kept, no rules, no nagging or chores to do, there is time for everything in a life free of cares and hardships.
When Peter brings in Wendy and her siblings though, things start to get funky. The lost boys begin to dream of the mother they have never had, of a mother who loves them. For a while Wendy fills this role, but then she too misses her own mother.
Peter Pan is certainly a classic worthy of all the hype as it has graced the stages from Broadway to Disney, to Hollywood, to so many different book publishers who hope to carry on this glorious favourite. I think somewhere in marketing however has made a mistake. I believe the story should not be marketed towards children, as they have yet to know what the abandoning of youth really means, but that it should be read more often by adults. Kids grasp the fun that this Neverland world would be, but neglect to see the implications of living there forever.
I don't cry when I read books, so I was astonished when I cried in the final lines of Peter Pan. It is that forgetting of childhood, of moving to a new season, of letting go of things that were once all that you dreamed of and thought about. I have never understood it more clearly than with the finishing of this text, the sadness that it would be to live as a child for the rest of your life and watch everything else grow and change except you.
For me this book is a coming of age tale, a choice we all have to make of weather to stay in our own fantasies, of having everything taken care of for us or actually having the bravery to face our fears and then enjoy along with the responsibilities, these are the benefits of aging. More than a dream, to live forever in an mortal world would be a curse, it makes me sad thinking about it, Peter is not a hero but a victim of a place and an imagination that he cannot will himself to escape for fear. We are meant to embrace each new stage, each step and grow and learn with them. I loved the impact that Peter Pan had on me as an adult. When I was younger I really didn't get the point, and it seemed so anti-climactic in the end, I didn't get it at all. I am in love with this classic now for sure. I can relate in so many ways to the war of embracing the future- while still longing for the past, the fear things will change and not knowing how that will feel. There is also no question about it, Peter Pan gets all my chickens clucking and the Stellar Five Chicken Book Award.
Have you ever read Peter Pan? What is your favourite children's classic? Have you found out like me that when you read a childhood classic later on in life it has much more meaning than when you were a kid? Which classic was it?
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
A Novel in Words and Pictures
by Brian Selznick
533 pages
YA Fiction
Published March 2007
Scholastic Press
Set in France in 1931, this is a story told in pictures and words giving a complete portrayal of Hugo Cabret. Hugo is a boy who lives at the train station, loves machines and robots and is a thief. I am fearful to share more because as it is a mystery I'd hate to taint even a second of your experience with this book. I enjoyed discovering every little piece of information as it came. I hate ruining surprises, but: it should be no surprise that this book is wonderful both in imagery and word! What I can tell you is that if you are at all on the fence about this book, not knowing if it is really something you would like to read, go to the bookstore and open it up. You will not even realise that you are slinking down to the floor to read page after page and dream along with the author in the world of Hugo Cabret and his invention. Then with the close of the book, the words written THE END across the back, you will come to, understanding but not believing that it wasn't actually real, that you didn't actually dream it up. It is that good- that entrancing.
I didn't have any idea what this book was about, the cover didn't particularly call my name, since it looked boyish. Oh, but thanks to Alyce (who is in my real-life book club) who walked me over to it and opened it. I think I heard music playing then, and since that moment I knew I would have to read it. I knew it!
It reads like a silent film, and many pages are a full spread of a face, a hand, or a machine. The art is so fantastic and beautiful. Brian Selznick really broke the mold with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, as it isn't a graphic novel, but the story is narrated just as much in pictures as it is in words. The style of the charcoal and pencil drawings is elaborate and very high quality, not leaving any detail out. I love to draw and that is another reason I couldn't stop looking at this book (still can't)! The little gizmos and gadgets come to life for sure, but more than the story of an invention it is the story of a family separated through time but united in memory and in likeness, it is a mystery that brings up almost too much pain for the past to carry and yet it is so gentle in its touch that it feels almost light.
I loved it, loved it! You have to try it too. It wins my Stellar Five Chicken Book Award (That means it is even better than a smashing five star hit- because chickens are better than stars!!!)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret book trailer:
Did you read it? What did you think of the art? Didn't the story just captivate you!?! It did me, and that was after I had already been reading for 12 hours straight for the read-a-thon!
The Teashop Girls
The Teashop Girls
by Laura Schaeffer
256 pages
Young Adult Fiction
Simon & Schuster
Annie, Genna, and Zoe have been the closest of friends and at the age of six they all fell in love with the Steeping Leaf. It was there that they were coined Teashop Girls, by Annie's Grandmother Louisa when they were almost too young to remember. The teashop was their childhood, they made treats and served them to each other for tea, and spent hours pouring over their Tea Handbook learning all there is to know, making up special advice and interesting uses for different types of tea. They even had a Teashop Girl rules one of them being that it was required to meet weekly for tea together.
Eight years later they are all still close friends, but there is much more to do now that they are in middle school. Annie discovers troubling news about the shop, it is likely to not be around much longer. After earning herself a position as a barista at the teashop, there is no stopping her, she wants to keep Steeping Leaf open! She wishes she could run to her best friends for help and support but will the years have allowed them to stop valuing their teashop the way she still does?
I adored the Teashop Girls. The writing was great, the characters developed to where I felt I knew them, and I couldn't put it down. The clocked ticked and I stayed up reading it hour after hour. I needed to know what was going to happen to the Steeping leaf, and the Teashop Girls!
What I respected the most about this young adult read is that it is one that I would actually let my kid read. I have read other books in this genre which are just to mopey, dark or depressing for me to want to pass on. The Teashop Girls however is spectacular. It isn't that the girls are perfect, or that they always do everything right, but they try and they know what is right and that is what makes the difference. Sure, they are in the midst of their awkward years (do those years ever end!?!?) but they have security in knowing who they are and this book is helping them develop a sense of what is important to them. Most of all I love Annie, she sees what she wants and grabs it, she is motivated, brilliant and extremely sweet...just my kind of gal! I strongly recommend this book, it is sure to satisfy, as long as it is read with a cup of tea in hand at all times.
Q&A with Laura Schaeffer
Author of The Teashop Girls:Tea:
What is your favourite tea? Do you drink different teas at different times of the day? Do you worry about caffeine intake, or do you just sip away?
When did you first fall in love with tea, and who was it that shared that first cup with you?
My two little boys love tea parties, we use my fransiscan china apple tea cups and they love the little saucers. We drink licorice root (mostly because they love the natural sweetness of it and I love that it doesn't have any stimulants). What are the best teas that you know of which are naturally sweet for little kids like mine?
The Teashop Girls:
Lets move on to your book, The Teashop Girls. Personally I can't wait to share it with my daughter when I have one who is old enough to read it. You are an amazing writer and even though it is a YA book, I was engrossed like crazy!
What books did you read when you were that age (between the ages of 8-14) that really inspired The Teashop Girls?
I personally loved the purity in this book, the girls acted like girls and yet they were honest, kind, and it was clean and wholesome. Was that a goal of yours while writing it or is that naturally your style for that age group? Did you consciously remove things that you found questionable for young girls to read?
I cannot describe how excited I was to read a novel for girls in which the girls have their faults but are still very secure in themselves. They didn't question everything and were loving to their parents. Did you intend Annie, Genna and Zoe to be three role models for young girls (not that we all can't learn from them!!)?
Annie is a very mature girl, thinking about things way beyond her age, worrying about the teashop that she has grown up in and really is home to her. Did you write her character from experience? Do you find you have a lot in common with Annie when you were that age or even now?
The Making of The Teashop Girls:
I'd like to ask you about the writing of this book. When did you start writing The Teashop Girls?
I know first second and third drafts are common, did the story change drastically from when you first wrote it?
Besides tea and cupcakes where did you find your inspiration?
I already have gushed over how much I loved this book, how great I think it is...so tell me, is there a sequel!?! Do you have a title for it and release date or am I getting ahead of myself!??!?
Laura, thank you so much for this interview. I wish every book I read had this stature, this quality and the appeal that this one did. I can't say enough just how much I liked it. Thank you for writing a book that I think should be on every young girl's shelf and I will hold onto my copy in hopes of a daughter to share it with. Thank you.
What tea is Laura Schaefer drinking right now?
Gingerbread Cupcakes(p.35) & Organic French breakfast from Cha Cha Tea
Spiced Blueberry Scones(p.78) & Jasmine bloom from Adagio Tea
Cucumber Sandwiches(p.189) & Citrus mountain oolong Cha Cha Tea
You are in luck, Laura Schaefer is going to share the Gingerbread Cupcake recipe with my readers, but if you want to try the other scrumptious delicacies, well that is just one more reason to buy the book!
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
(Published on B&b ex libris with permission from the author. original recipe is from The Teashop Girls p. 35)
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup all -purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup milk
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 and 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely grated
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl combine the butter with white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg to the creamed mixture.
In another bowl stir the flour, two kinds of ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt together. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add in the milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the lined tin.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool.
To make frosting: combine cream cheese, half-and-half, lemon zest, and powdered sugar. Frost cupcakes once they are cool.
Makes 10-12 cupcakes.
(aka. who says tea parties are only for girls!?)
Anne Of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Pages: 304
Published: 1908
Genre: Classic Children's Literature
Anne of Green Gables is the tale of Anne and orphan girl child who comes by mistake to live at Green Gables. Which is the mistake? Well, that she should have been a boy, they requested a boy! She is the chattiest creature to have ever entered the life of the older brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, maybe the chattiest creature I have read ever. Still, she is genuine, sweet and no matter how obnoxious- she is lovable. I must say that somewhere in the middle of the book she was no longer bothersome at all and I completely fell in love.
For the first several chapters I didn't really know if I'd make it through the book, and then I felt a duty to get at least a little ways into this classic before renouncing it forever. I would have made a horrid judgment call if I had! I don't know where it happened, but it did I fell in love with Anne. It may have been right around where she died her hair green, or where she should have forgiven her best enemy Gilbert, but I am not sure because all of the sudden I just couldn't get enough of her. When the book was done I immediately tried to get my hands on the next book, which is Anne of Avonlea. This is a classic that deserves it's title and honoured position, there is no doubt about it!
Have you read Anne of Green Gables too? Did you read it as a child or an adult? What book do you love that is considered a childhood classic that you just can't get enough of even being an adult?
Find it at: Powell's
Twilight
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer
544 pages
Fiction, YA, Fantasy
If you haven't decided to dive into this YA vampire series yet, then I don't think that I could possibly write a review that would wet your lips. I have read the reviews of how intriguing, interesting and entertaining these books are and yes, I decided to read it too. I'm not going to do my regular review, I decided to do a list of likes and dislikes instead.
Spoilers!!
What I liked:
*It was a good entertaining read
*I was mystified by the vampire plot
*The storyline was interesting.
*I liked that Edward didn't give in to Bella's nagging to make her a vampire. It would have ruined the story for me. I am not saying that it wouldn't eventually make sense, but in this first book it just didn't feel right. Yay Eddie!
*I liked how he saved her all the time, heroes...I can't get over searching for heroes.
What I didn't like:
*Bella was too much for me, and was really whinny.
*The concept that Bella was completely lying to everyone that she loved before Edward, I think that is a BAD idea to get into kids' heads. The mentality that parents don't have a clue what they are going through, and wouldn't understand if they did. I resent that mentality among today's youth and did even when I was a youth.
*I will not allow my own children to read this series. The vampire darkness is nothing compared to the manipulation, guilt, lies, and crap that these books feed to book-starved teens.
End Spoilers
I won't read the next book in the series, at least that is my thought right now. I won't recommend this to anyone either. The Writing isn't good, using the same words over and over. More like a film than a book in my opinion. I will just watch the films, but I won't waste my time on the reading...because it really would be a waste of my time. However there is a little intrigue for me as to exactly what happens in the end therefore I will watch them.
Twilight questions for you!!
Are you still holding out on this saga? why? If you have read the books, which is your favourite? This one felt a little too informative (as in setting up the plot with how all the vampires came to be and such) do the next ones move more quickly? Did you like Bella or were you annoyed by her like me? On a scale of 1-10 how dreamy do you find Edward (if you imagine yourself back in highschool)?
My rating:
50/100
Forbidden Tales: Sword (Guest Post!!)
Title: Forbidden Tales: Sword
Author: Da Chen
Pages: 240
This is a guest review, written by Susan Canfield, my mother-in-law. She is a literature teacher at a local junior high school. Who better to read/review a YA literature book than a teacher? Enjoy her thoughts on Forbidden Tales: Sword by Da Chen:
Emperor Ching has commissioned Master Swordsman Mui to create the finest weapon on earth. Shortly before the swordmaster delivers his heavenly creation to the emperor, he has a premonition that this honor would bring tragedy to his family. His fears are realized when the emperor has him brutally murdered to prevent him from ever making another sword that would match the magic of his treasured blade.
Soon after his death, his widow gives birth to a daughter, Mui, Mui. The child's destiny in life is to seek her father's murderer and take his life in revenge. Although outwardly, she appears to be nothing more than a wood gatherer, she is being secretly trained to fight and conquer not only her enemy, but her own passions and will. Her journey of vengeance requires her to find the son of her father's apprentice, a young warrior by the name of Tong Ting. Together, they plot to attack and destroy the emperor during his prayers at the Festival of the Sun.
Having lived her life under the shadow of almost certain death while she accomplishes her mission, she is surprised to find that Tong Ting awakens in her the dream to live and build a future. Now she must battle, not only the supreme enemy, but her own misgivings and desires. Should she fight and avenge the honor of her father, or should she flee to safety and honor her father by bearing his heirs?
I enjoyed getting a glimpse of rural China, of geese and wood gathering, traditions and superstitions. Mui Mui had a unique viewpoint for a woman in her culture, detesting the expected roles, succeeding in martial arts and swordsmanship and yet, delighting in her womanhood and maintaining a desire to find a soul mate
Author Da Chen grew up in China and most of is books, including Colors of the Mountain, a New York Times best seller, are set in his native land and explore life during the Cultural Revolution. Sword brings to life the brutal repression he experienced during his boyhood years in rural China. Da Chen has written several children's books and Sword mirrors the simplicity of a children's tale. I was completely taken in by the author's introduction where he tells of seeing his town's deeply treasured book collection burned by the local political powers. Da Chen writes with the passion of one who treasures the gift of fiction.
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