Winter Read Alouds

Read - alouds can be a great way to spend time with others. Steve and I usually have a read-aloud on the go. We eagerly anticipated .....




http://www.amazon.ca/Silver-Andrew-Motion/dp/0385670699/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353352748&sr=1-1

Silver by Andrew Motion. I was so disappointed. Motion was the poet laureate of England a few years back, this tale is supposed to be about the adventures of the son of Jim Hawkins from the Hispanola and the daughter, Natty, of Long John Silver. The two kids come together at the manipulations of Long John Silver to return to Treasure Island and get the rest of the treasure.

 She rowed to get him. He dithered.


He rowed to get her. She bollocked around.


They took forever to steal the original map. Why didn't he do that before he went to get her?


They rowed back to London. He was a simp.

It took nearly 100 pages for the two of them to get out of the Thames River. Son of Jim just whines and imagines his way to the island, Natty isn't so much a character as a figment of Son of Jim's imagination. In the few adventures the two do encounter, Son of Jim is far from the center of activity and supposes his way through recollecting what other characters might have done. What a bust. I took up knitting while listening to the book, so I could feel the time wasn't fully wasted. Why we persisted to the end, I don't really know. I was glad to arrive at the end of it. And curse it all, we bought it in hard cover, we had such hopes.(It's on sale now at Amazon)




http://www.amazon.ca/Crocodile-Sandbank-Elizabeth-Peters/dp/0445406518/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1353351663&sr=8-4

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. This is the first in a long series with heroine Amelia Peabody. It takes place in the 1800's in Egypt at the time when archeology is at the stage where it is trying to define itself and its methods. With a bit of slap stick comedy and some snappy dialogues, Amelia, her trusty umbrella and her 'tarnished' friend find themselves camping at a dig near some cliff caves in the desert. Abandoned by the workers, threatened by a mummy and romanced by a pair of eccentric brothers, the two women have an exciting few weeks along the Nile.



http://www.amazon.ca/Bloody-Jack-Account-Curious-Adventures/dp/061371640X/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353351797&sr=1-13


Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer. This is our current read aloud and it's a rip snorter. Bloody Jack is twelve or thirteen, she isn't really sure. Orphaned at eight, she is a gutter kid who managed to charm her way onto a man-o-war in the guise of a boy because she can read. She has to keep her true identity hidden, try to keep her naturally ebullient nature suppressed, and learn how to survive as a ship's boy on a fighting vessel. Up to now she has been in a battle against pirates, sailed to Caribbean to find more pirates, lost a friend in a battle and buried him at sea, had a tattoo put on her hip bone, and discovered first love. For another ship's boy, who doesn't know she is a girl. Ooops. How's that gonna work out?

It is  nice to read these books in front of the fire in the winter and then hurry upstairs to get into the cold bed.  In the summer we read by lantern when we are at the camp or on the back porch at home before the bugs come out. It is a nice way to bring the evening to a close and a terrific alternative to television. We take turns reading out loud, sometimes both of us on a night, sometimes only one of us reading. The search for the next book is part of the fun.

We have our Saint Nicholaas book identified and ordered, a paperback version of....



http://www.amazon.ca/Am-Half-Sick-Shadows-Alan-Bradley/dp/0385668112/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353351996&sr=1-2

We have read the first three over the years and find Flavia to be a delightful character. Book One has been the best, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Book Two, 'The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag' stood up well, but book three, 'A Red Herring Without Mustard' wasn't that strong in plot or characters. Even Flavia seemed a little dull. The fourth one promises to be a typical British mystery with a Christmas theme thrown in. Since we are buying it to read over Christmas, it should be fine.

In an interview on BBC's Radio 4 program, Open Book, some famous writer told some famous radio personality that any book makes a good read aloud if it is a good book to begin with. I used to try and find a book that specifically met my idea of what a read aloud should sound like but now we have found that the advice is true. If it is a good book to begin with, and the plot interests you, it will probably read well. That advice doesn't work for non-fiction though. We've tried one on the nature of salt marshes, one on birds and one on the genetic history of mankind. Nope, not enough plot to work as a read aloud. All of them still good for a quiet read to oneself though. I wonder how a biography would work? Is there anyone interesting enough to spend 300 pages aloud with? I mean, more interesting than a 12 year old on board a man-o-war who will save the day? I doubt it.

"Wow, this book has pages!"

On Thursday, I did a run of errands, one of which was the library. I couldn't find anything in the adult section that thrilled me so I went to the children's section. I don't know why adults don't read more children's stories, they pack a wonderful bunch of adventures. I was looking in the section for reluctant boy readers because, let me tell you, those authors pull out tons of creative efforts to convince a boy to read. Pirates, air battles, submarines, Africa, dragons, swords, boogers, farts, chemical explosions and lots of dirt. I had in my hands a book with a great dragon on the cover when a group of 5-6 year olds from a kindergarten arrived. Teacher had some firm words about where they were allowed to roam and when she asked them “Do you understand?”, they all yelled “Yes!” and she let them lose. I was then surrounded by 8 or so children. They pulled books out of the shelves, checking for good looking covers. Size of book didn't matter, content of story didn't matter, even skill level didn't matter, the goal was to get a book with an amazing cover. I replaced my dragon book and at least two kids picked it up. I guess experience had taught them that eventually they would have to chose a book that they stood a chance of reading, but the first frenzy was about cool factor. One boy was determined to get a book about cougars but this was in a forbidden section. He needed a special escort. Luckily the other kids didn't notice or this was an established pattern.

I was enjoying the sounds of kids finding books exciting when one boy chose the dragon book I had been looking at. He exclaimed at the cover and then turned to his buddy and said with huge delight, “Wow, this book has pages!”

I'm still laughing. It never occurred to me that a book might not contain pages. It might not have pictures, or maps or chapter headings, but usually I can count on a book having pages. Upon reflection and telling the story to Steve, we wondered if the boy meant that the book was so sophisticated as to have lots of text on each page. Maybe he was impressed with where reading could lead to? Just wait until he can actually read that level of book, it was about a boy who was taking care of 8 dragon babies in the suburbs somewhere and an angry Chinese ninja warrior was out to destroy them. That's exciting.


At a recent book club meeting we were talking about books that had influenced us significantly, good or bad. It was interesting that most of us chose books that we had read before the age of 13. We are all avid readers but after reading for some 20-40 years, some of us are a little thick skinned about the excitement. We recognize a good tale or character or even a good setting and we enjoy it, talk about it a bit with the group, and go get another 10 books to read. Each of us felt the last decade of reading did not shine with as much shiny as the books we read when we were kids.

We came up with a list of about 30 authors from Beatrix Potter to Madeline L'engle. We nearly all had the same experience of having read through the children's section two or three times and sneaking up to the adult sections to see what else we could find. Some of us were sent back down to the children's sections (usually in the basement) while others of us were lucky and the librarian directed us to good adult reading; Jane Austin, Isaac Asiminov, and countless others. Some of us snuck books off our parent's shelves, hoping not to get caught but desperate to find something new to read. I had all three experiences in one form or another and it was while sneaking books off shelves at home or at the library and begging my mom to sign them out that I discovered history. I am sure I read most of the library's history holdings before I hit high school history class. Well, British history because they had castles.


Today, the children's section of the library is nothing like we had. There is a section for picture books, reluctant readers, middle readers, young adult readers, non-fiction, French, English as a second language, DVD's for all young ages, and magazines. Sometimes the writing style is a bit below a reader of 45 years reading experience but even so, the plots give a good kick.

There are always earnest books. Spare me from an earnest book, children's or adult. They go on and on as if the reader can't bring into the act of reading any previous life experience. There is nothing worse than a lecture in the guise of a story. I read one the other day about the Hudson Bay company and tossed it aside. Even if I knew nothing about 1700's Canada, that doesn't make me stupid as this author presumed his reader to be. No wonder some kids tune out.

Now, if you don't like fiction of any kind, the non-fiction section is brilliant. There are often DVD's in each subject section for the visual entertainment. And the subject matter is huge. You can get a book on sailing up the Amazon in the 1800's, a video on the galaxy, and a large coffee table book on cooking with chocolate. It is simply hard to imagine that a person can't find something to enchant them somewhere on all those shelves.

When the kids were little we went to a library in the Beach of Toronto. We had to head down a half flight of stairs, park the stroller, hang up all the coats and no child was allowed to be unattended. The sign out was back up those stairs and thankfully beside the “What's New” section. While waiting our turn I would lean over, grab ANYTHING that didn't look familiar and add it to the pile. We never went to the library without a stroller or the red wagon, there were just too many books to carry. Well, in that “What's new” section I discovered historical mysteries, Bill Bryson, gardening, the history of maps, the history of colour, fresh water fish, and most fun of all, Calvin and Hobbes comics.


I've been trying to talk my mom into going to the library for a few years now. Mom...go to the library! It's good exercise, a destination and free. I have a mission this next visit to Toronto to take her there and get her a card. So Mom, get your runners and a bill with your name and address on it, we are going to have a blast and find us a book with some pages.

For those of you with an ecological sensibility, March 27th is Dim Earth Day at 8:30 local time. Turn all your lights off or down for an hour. Use a candle. If this is simple to do, turn off your TV and radio and read, or play a game or play your musical instrument by candle light. If you really want to challenge yourself, back the time up to the dinner hour and see what you can do without electricity from 5:30 to 9:30. This is recommended by me, the adventurer in things green.

PS. the pictures are for the reluctant readers in the crowd. They are random.