Anne of Avonlea

"Perhaps she had not succeeded in 'inspiring' any wonderful ambitions in her pupils, but she had taught them, more by her own sweet personality than by all her careful precepts, that it was good and necessary in the years that were before them to live their lives finely and graciously, holding fast to truth and courtesy and kindness, keeping aloof from all that savoured of falsehood and meanness and vulgarity. They were, perhaps, all unconscious of having learned such lessons; but they would remember and practice them long after they had forgotten the capital of Afghanistan and the dates of the Wars of the Roses."

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

In the second book, Anne is no longer the student: she has become the teacher, and she pours her soul into it, as she does with everything.  She is home to help Marilla with their two new additions: twins Davy and Dora.  She also makes several new friends, who keep life interesting and full of love and imagination.

A wonderful read.  I love watching Anne grow up.

Anne of Green Gables

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Good heavens, how could I have never known Anne of Green Gables?  I have never read this book and I can't imagine how or why!  The only comfort I have in waiting so long is that I have now had such a fun treasure in my twenties that I never knew about!

When Mary saw I was reading this she asked me, "Have you come to kindred spirits yet?"  :)  What a delightful term for those people we all hold near!

I just love this book - it went right along with happy people living in mountains and now on islands!  Anne is so wonderfully endearing I understand exactly why she has become so well known over the years.  Perhaps I love her most because she always has such great intentions.  She is such a fun protagonist.

To start the series, Anne leaves an orphanage to live with a brother and sister (Matthew and Marilla) in Green Gables.  They had planned on a boy, but feel so badly for Anne that the keep her.  Over time, they come to love Anne, in spite of (or maybe because of) her many incidents and accidents.  It is a beautiful, rich story.  I will undoubtedly read this again and again (books 2-7 are on my library counter to read right away!)

LOVED this.

I, Juan de Pareja

"Art must be true.  It is the one thing in life that must rest on solid truth.  Otherwise, it is worthless."

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño

In my quest to read all the Newberys, I picked up "I, Juan de Pareja" in January 2009.  Because I love Spain, and I know who Velazquez is, I devoured the story, wishing genuinely that there was more.

Velazquez is a renowned Spanish painter from the seventeenth century.  His most famous piece of artwork, "Las Meninas" is an intriguing work that I feel privileged to have seen in person.  I, Juan de Pareja, is a book about Velazquez through the eyes of his slave, Juan de Pareja.  Juan is inherited by Velazquez when he is a young boy and becomes a pillar for Velazquez: he sets the canvases, washes the brushes, arranges the palette, and travels many miles at his master's side.  It is a captivating story, both in regards to the artwork that Velazquez created, and in terms of the beautiful relationship that unfolds between master and pupil.  Juan's voice is simple and raw, filled with honesty and emotion.

Whenever I am asked about my favorite book I respond that it is "I, Juan de Pareja."  I can't believe five years have passed since I read it, but I truly enjoyed again experiencing the surprise that comes from being uncertain how it would all go.  I love this book.

By the way, the cover is snatches of the artwork of Velazquez, which I also just love.  Go look up "Las Meninas" and read a little about the history of it.  It is the only self-portrait we have of Velazquez.

Bright Island

Sailing was better than flying.  You sat still and the clean water poured around you, and the sweet air washed you clean.

Bright Island by Mabel L. Robinson

I remember that in high school someone asked me what kind of books I liked and I responded, "Happy books about nice people who live in mountains."  Christy, by Catherine Marshall, was one of my favorite reads at the time and I found a few other treasures about people living on the land that I really enjoyed.  I have clearly broadened my horizons to now include happy books about nice people who live on islands.

Bright Island is about Thankful Curtis, a young girl that lives with her family as the sole inhabitants on an island off the coast of Maine.  Thankful thrives on her island and lives for her icy plunges in the water each morning and sailing every afternoon.  She loves watching the stars and living off the land.

But Thankful is sent to the mainland to go to finishing school with other children her age.  She has never been in so much noise or with young people her age, to say nothing of her confusion about modern-day conveniences.  She struggles and learns, makes mistakes and grows.

It was not a profound book, but I really enjoyed it.  It is one I would pick up again to enjoy the sights and smells and sounds of Thankful's Bright Island.

Seedfolks

"Gardening boring?  Never!  It has suspense, tragedy, startling developments-a soap opera growing out of the ground.  I'd forgotten that tremolo of expectation produced by a tiny forest of sprouts.  A fact bobbed up from my memory, that the ancient Egyptians prescribed walking through a garden as a cure for the mad.  It was a mind-altering drug we took daily."

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

TJ and I went out to eat with some long time friends at Cafe Madrid, our favorite (...only) local Spanish restaurant.  The food was delightful and the company was great: we sat at the table for three hours.  For a good 45 minutes we discussed books, which is something I can certainly get excited about.  As usual, I suggested Funny in Farsi, which is probably in my top 3 favorites of all time.  Our friends suggested Seedfolks, which they said was a "good, quick read."  They were right.  I picked it up from the library three days later and read it in an hour.

There is an empty lot in the middle of Cleveland that has turn into a dumping ground of sorts: it's filled with old tires, refrigerators, a sofa and rats.  But a little girl who misses her father starts an unexpected change in the old lot when she plants a few beans: she hopes her dad will look down from heaven and see that she is just like him, gardening.  Each chapter introduces a different character, who goes to the lot for a different reason, planting hope with their various seeds.

I anticipated that the same 3-5 characters would each have a few chapters of narration but every chapter, from start to finish, was a different character, thirteen in all.  I really enjoyed it.  My favorite books are happy books and I loved seeing this group of strangers work together to make something beautiful.

I'm uncertain the best age for reading this but you could certainly have some good conversations with children about acceptance, service, kindness and hard work.  I heartily recommend this one.

Half Magic

"Still, even without the country or a lake, the summer was a fine thing, particularly when you were at the beginning of it, looking ahead into it. There would be months of beautifully long, empty days, and each other to play with, and the books from the library.”

Half Magic by Edward Eager

As with most of the book recommendations I pursue, I picked this up based on a recommendation by Janssen at Everyday Reading.  She lists it as one of her favorite middle grade books and I agree completely.  In fact, I told TJ that this is the exact kind of book I imagine reading to our kids on road trips in the future.  It was innocent, fun, entertaining and plain old wholesome: my favorite combination for a book.

Four siblings - Jane, Katharine, Mark and Martha - find a charm one day and, after a sequence of odd events, figure out that the charm grants them exactly one half of everything they wish.  With that understanding in place the four of them set out to have several wonderful adventures together, fumbling through some wacky wishes (caused by unsound math).  It was a lot of fun to see what sorts of adventures were the most exciting to them (they take turns with the charm) and it was quite funny to see what went awry. 

I also really enjoyed the narrator's voice, which I felt was the perfect tone for children.  I imagined the narrator as a he, since the author is a he, and he acknowledged the audience by saying things like "you know exactly what I mean" or "as I'm sure you know."  They were the sort of acknowledgements that I would bet make children feel connected to the book even further.  A great touch, I think.

I did close this book with a homework assignment to read something by E. Nesbit.  I'm ashamed to say I don't even know who it is but Edward Eager, the author, mentions Nesbit in every book he writes in an effort to point children to her books.  I'll add her to my list!