The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

by E. L. Koingsburg

Claudia, like all young people at some point, wants to run away.  She's aware enough to know that roughing it isn't for her, so she decides to run to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her brother Jamie.  While there, she comes across an angel reputed to have been carved my Michelangelo.  She and Jaime make it their mission (mostly at Claudia's insistence) to discover the statues true origins.  Eventually they contact the owner of the statue (Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler) to discover the truth.  The eccentric woman shows Claudia  that the precious statue has been filling the same need that caused her to run away in the first place, and give her the insight to return home.

Audience

This book is slower paced but very witty.  Those who like action wouldn't care for this, but the mystery was enough to keep me going.  The story is told my Mrs. Frankweiler whose style is very sharp and enjoyable.  It's typical to be introduced to this one in 4th grade.

What I Love About This Book

I thought it was mostly a story of self discovery.  It's funny and lighthearted, but I think most children can relate with Claudia and her undefinable need.

Cautions

Two main characters have no qualms about cheating.  Also, the children run away and come back with no regrets about the pain they caused their loved ones.

Belle Praters Boy

by Ruth White
Gypsy does not know her cousin Wodrow very well, but that changes when he moves in next door to live with their shared grandparents.  He's cross eyed and has coke bottle glasses.  And those coveralls are their own disaster.  Gypsy is determined to know what Wodrow knows about his mother's disappearance.  As she gets to know him,  she laughs at his mischief and at herself for joining in.  As they become close, they prove to the world that he is more than just "Belle Prater's Boy" and she has courage and a fire all her own.

What I Love About This Book

Whenever I've had my heart broken, and I mean really broken, I pull this book off the shelf and gather courage and perspective from it's pages.  I love the way heavy topics are handled.  It's not avoided, and the book does not pretend that real pain can be "made better" with just a little understanding.  When the book ends the children are not necessarily healed, but they are at peace.  As serious as this book gets, there are plenty of childhood antics that keep me in stitches.  The voices of the characters, as well as their coping strategies ring true to me as a teacher of children that age.

Cautions: SPOILERS

1) The book is about Gypsy coming to terms with her father's suicide

2) It's also about Wodrow coming to terms with his mother's abandonment

Tear Soup

I decided to start in on picture books.  This is one of my all-time favorites.  It's the story of an "old and somewhat wise woman whom everyone called Grandy" and how she mourns the loss of a grandchild.  It's insightful and non-threatening as it probes the grieving process and all involved, with emphasis on the fact that everyone grieves differently.

Audience

Anyone, child or adult, who has grieved, is grieving, or knows someone who is grieving

What I Love About This Book
The illustrations are beautiful.  They also contain added insight if examined closely.  The dog is adorable and fun.  I just feel this is a very child safe and simple way to understand the complexities of grief.  Each page talks about being okay with feeling whatever you are feeling.  I like that it shows grief as having an end, of sorts.  Anyone who's experienced it will know that those feelings of loss will flare up every now and then, but it is a triumphant day when you no longer need your grief and can let it go for the most part.  There's even several pages of appendix talking about different kinds of loss and how women/men/children will experience loss differently and how others can help them.

Caution
While it is applicable to all grief and loss, it is slanted toward bereavement

Sarah, Plain and Tall

This is the story of a mail-order-bride who comes from Maine and her beloved ocean to the Midwest prairies of Kansas to meet a farmer and his two young children.  She finds the love Jacob has for his deceased wife is still strong, and he finds that Sarah will never stand for being merely a replacement.  The couple grow in love for each other, as well as for the children and the beautiful, if unforgiving farmland they live on.

Audience

3-5th grade.  This series is very simple, lacking some of the character exploration and ambiguity of young adult fiction.  They are short and sweet.

What I Love About These Books
For some reason this love story speaks to me.  I love heroines like Sarah that don't wait for life to happen to them.  Sarah knows she needs a change and makes it happen.  I love that Jacob is strong and intelligent enough to let her be herself.  Some people find the simplicity of the story boring.  I find it comforting.  It seems to me that a child could comprehend the story, but as an adult reader I understand so much more than I did before and relate on a whole new level

Caution
1) This book is not action packed.  Many children nowadays would find it slow.

Series
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Skylark
Caleb's Story
More Perfect Than the Moon

Inkspell and Inkdeath

Yes, I'm reviewing each title in the series separately.  These are the two sequels to Inkheart, but they have a different feeling for me.  Inkheart is about storybook characters coming into our world, this book is about the Inkheart characters going into the Inkworld.  Dustfinger got all he ever wanted, to go back.  But ten years in the other world changed him, and he finds that leaving everyone behind is not as liberating as he thought.  In the meantime Farid solicits Meggie's help to get to Dustfinger.  Meggie sees this as her ultimate dream come true and tries not to think about how her father will react when he sees that Meggie has left him for the world that stole his wife for ten years.  Mo and Theresa find a way into the Inkworld hoping beyond hope their family will be together again. 

Audience
This is to middle grade readers (6-8) and the content is inappropriate below that.  The suffering of many of the characters, including poverty and prejudice, is described in detail, and some of the decisions are morally questionable.  It makes for a rich story but also makes it less child-friendly.

What I Love About These Books

1) I always love Dustfinger for his contradictions.  If you've read the first book you know that he really is the coward he describes himself to be...except when he isn't. 

2) The emotional lines were an intense read.  Some rang true, others felt melodramatic, but I enjoyed all of them.  I felt just about every character was improved upon. 

3) If you are going to like this book, you have to fall in love with the Inkworld and it's people, because this is their story. 

4) Having read the romance plot through to the end, I must say it rang true to me.  I want my kids, especially my girls, to understand the conclusions Meggie draws at the end of the series.

Cautions
1) These books are dark.  My experience is that we bring what darkness we have into any book, but some invite more than others.  The Inkworld has some truly evil characters and they are explored
2) There is profanity.  I didn't feel it was excessive, but depending on the child, you may want to hold off.  Farid calls some characters an SOB, so it's not exactly mild.
3) The book is about 640 pages long with a lot of description.  The descriptions are beautiful, but I skimmed some of them.
4) Inkspell leaves on a killer cliffhanger, so have Inkdeath ready.

Inkheart

Have you ever had the experience where you're reading something, and all of the sudden the story jumps off the page and comes to life?  Meggie's father Mo is a book binder, or as Meggie calls him "the book doctor."  One day a man named Dustfinger shows up on their doorstep Mo convinces Meggie it's time to leave.  Somehow he seems bound to this Dustfinger person and Meggie is scared.  Dustfinger is likable, but something is shifty about him.  As the adventure unfolds Meggie finds her family is more connected to books than she knew.  She meets the book that stole away her mother, and finds the book that brought all her loved ones together again.

Audience

Book lovers welcome.  Reading level is about 5th grade.  My 3rd graders who enjoy reading could comprehend it well enough, but it is a bit long for their attention spans.  This does not strike me as a gender specific book with all the action in it.

What I Love About This Book

This is the only book I've met that explores what it's like to be a reader.  I quote this book to my students sometimes and they think I'm that wise.  I enjoy the characters.  All of them are archetypal, but I didn't feel any of the main ones were flat.  Even Basta has some sympathy from me, though perhaps not Capricorn.  I also liked having a quote at the beginning of each chapter.  Today I explained to a student that if you read a book often enough it becomes a friend.  Well not only is this book a friend, but it's all about people who found their best friends on the printed page.

Cautions

1) All the books in this series are very descriptive.  Most of the pages are telling you what things look like.  They are wonderful, but if that's not your thing, get out

2) This is one of those books where a mystery is hinted at on page one and not revealed until near the end, with only hints here and there.

3) Again, the characters are archetypal, which means they will remind you of other characters you know.  You can say it's less original, but I think it's done on purpose.  Either way, you will recognize a lot of characters from other books.

The Secret Garden

I am remiss in not reviewing The Secret Garden until now.  This book centers around ten year old Mary Lenox and the day she finds her parents have died of Cholera.  She is taken to her uncle Archibald Craven in England on the moors of Yorkshire.  She goes from having everything she could want (outside of human contact) to a world alien to everything she ever knew.  The people around her now don't put up with her whining and temper tantrums, but they genuinely care about her, and she comes to enjoy them.  Eventually she meets Colin Craven, who has lived as sheltered and spoiled a life as herself.  Together they find the "secret garden" that Colins' mother had loved and together breathe life and love into it.  As they work to make the garden live again, they find their hearts filled with all the love and hope they ever wanted and more.

Audience

I think an eight year old would be safe with the content.  The language is a little old, so probably fifth grade reading level.  The book was written for girls, but all the boys I know have loved it just as much.  I loved it the first time I read it, and still find new things to ponder on each rereading.

What I Love About This Book

Where do I even start?  I always donate this book to battered women's and children's shelters.  The message is taking one of taking your life into your own hands, and filling it with beauty.  I love watching Mary emerge from her shell.  I love the whole message that when you give love, you find yourself filled with love.  The theme statement of the whole book is: Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow.  Every time we add something positive to our lives, or simply maintain the good, that is a space where evil, negativity, and darkness will never find root.

Cautions

1) In talking to others, it seems they did not fall in love with this book unless they knew it as a child.  I can't imagine a world where I didn't know "The Secret Garden."

2) There is some talk of the supernatural.  It is never defined as being God or Indian magic, but both are hinted at.

3) It could be argued this book is slow.  Mary and Colin finding life is the story, there is no surprising little plot twist.