Well, hello there! Thanks for checking out Part 7 of
Rutabaga’s Reads 2013. My post contains a variety of age categories this time
around. You’ll find children’s picture books, Christian fiction, adult fiction
and a fiction chapter book.
Who knew that being a good friend could involve babysitting
an egg?! When Kack Kack, a duck, hears of her sister’s hatchlings, she goes to
visit her. She asks her friend, Bently Hopperton, to watch over her precious
egg. Bently is a musical and artsy frog who loves to sing and draw. Disliking
the look of the “bland” egg, Bently decides to paint it beautifully.
Unfortunately, it is “eggnapped” by a boy who mistakes it for an Easter egg.
Bently embarks on a daring and amusing mission to rescue the egg. He encounters
an elephant stuffed animal, a goldfish and a little girl, to name a few pieces
of his adventure.
Bently’s
mission is over-the-top, but that’s partly what makes this tale so charming.
One can’t help but like his subtle and humorous hero. Joyce’s illustrations are
also charming. They are not bold and in your face, but gentle and muted. It’s
an enjoyably adventurous tale for kids and the adults reading it to them.
Robin Preiss
Glasser, illustrator.
I had the fun opportunity to read this book (months ago now)
to a 1st Grade class on their appointed Fancy Nancy Day. It was all in good fun -- good literature-inspired
fun!
With her
best friend on vacation, Nancy is glum,
but her mood changes when her mom brings her a set of glitter markers. She
finds inspiration all around her and even bases it on famous artistes. For example, Mrs. DeVine’s
garden inspires her to create a Monet-inspired image. In true Fancy Nancy form,
she creates artwork that is très, très fancy!
The forces
that are O’Connor and Preiss Glasser create another work of art, both in
writing and illustrating. The writing is fun (and fancy, of course), and the
pictures are bright and colorful. The students enjoyed the book; I did as well.
And who knows, perhaps “Aspiring Artist” got their creative juices flowing,
too!
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Jodi Winfield is a 27-year-old Englischer house-sitting in the heart of Lancaster County’s Amish
country. Imagine her surprise when she finds a distraught little girl who’s disheveled
and speaks no English. Her questions about where the girl comes from lead her
to the fictional area of Hickory Hollow. There, she finds a world that time
seems to have forgotten. The People are humble, kind and God-fearing, though
wary of Jodi’s worldliness. Despite her unfamiliarity with Amish customs, she
is entranced by the area and enjoys running on the lesser-traveled back roads.
Jodi’s spirit is in need of healing, and her life is in want of answers. Will
Hickory Hollow provide the healing and solace she needs?
Maryanna
Esh is a widowed mother of four. It is her youngest, Sarah, who went missing.
Maryanna has raised her brood and kept up the house, property and family
business for three years. Still, how her heart daily misses her beloved Benuel!
Her parents have outright told her that she needs a father for her children,
especially Sarah, as Maryanna has been known to mollycoddle her. This
favoritism hasn’t gone unnoticed, and it is frowned upon. Is Maryanna ready to
accept another man’s love?
This is the
third book in Lewis’ Home to Hickory
Hollow series, but it reads as a standalone novel. As I’ve come to expect
from Lewis, it is very good on many levels. It’s well-written with the right
amounts of tenderness, humility, faith, dissent and doubt. It is also carefully
researched, so she stays true to Old Order Amish ways. At its core, it is a
book about accepting others and keeping our hearts open to love and the Lord
even amidst grief.
Book One in
the series: The Fiddler (not reviewed by me)
Book Two in
the series: The Bridesmaid
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Thanks go out to my cousin, Megan, for lending me this book.
The year is
1940. France has fallen, and The Blitz is ravaging the United Kingdom. Radio
personality Frankie Bard is in Europe covering whatever she can, from the
nightly bombings to the streams of Jewish refugees to stories of those around
her that she cannot finish because she never sees them again. America is still
cocooned at this point, and they aren’t invested enough to want to provide aid
across the Atlantic. It seems that they figure, since the battle is not on
their soil, then it isn’t their concern. Frankie wants America, not just to
hear, but really listen. She wants them involved in the effort to help put a
stop to all the pain and war.
Postmaster
Iris James hears Frankie’s broadcasts, but she can’t really understand what
Frankie sees and hears, who she meets and doesn’t get a chance to say good-bye
to, but she does hear Frankie when she says, “Pay attention.” Iris is as
dedicated to her post as Franklin, Massachusetts’ postmaster -- “In England
you’d be called a postmistress,” Frankie informs her -- as if it were her
sacred duty. She believes that mistakes happen in her midst, but they have a
reason, and she is always there to fix them. She believes she knows about pain
and anguish, but does she? Does she really get what Frankie is trying to tell
her, tell America?
Emma Fitch
is the new wife of the town doctor, Will. Something happens that prompts Will
to aid those in London, and he leaves, telling Emma he will return in six
months. He writes her letters every day, as she writes to him, but Emma
struggles. She is angry that he left her and is at turns annoyed with Frankie’s
voice and words and deeply moved by the brokenness and sadness in her voice.
She’s waiting for news: Is it less painful to focus on what you hope is untrue
or try to accept the plausibly inevitable?
This is a
book for book clubs, but it’s really a book to provoke anyone’s thoughts.
Blake’s prose is quite compelling, and the three main women are so distinctive.
They are each caught up in their own lives and have trouble grasping what they
have not lived. In that sense, it parallels how most of us are today. It is
hard to put ourselves in another’s shoes, and these women portray that
powerfully. “The Postmistress” isn’t a sentimental book, and it is adult
fiction, so expect that it’s for mature readers. It is moving, challenging,
harrowing, dangerous, sad and lovely. It swept me away, as might the currents
of the ocean, sometimes smooth-sailing and other times choppy and uncertain.
Meet Saige Copeland. She is American Girl’s Girl of the Year
for 2013. Saige is a horse-loving painter who has just begun fourth grade.
Fourth grade would be great if her best friend, Tessa, would spend time with
her and art was taught in school every year (art and music are taught in
opposing years). Fortunately, she makes a new friend, and she has her grandma’s
place to look forward to most days. There, she can be with horses and paint
with her grandmother. Her grandma, Mimi, suggests that Saige start an initiative
to “save the arts,” which includes fundraising and the opportunity to lead the
parade on Mimi’s horse, Picasso. When Mimi is hurt, Saige doubts that she can
go through with everything she has planned, but she doesn’t want to let her
grandma down. Can Saige fulfill her fundraising ideas to get art back in school
and make her grandma proud?
“Saige”
is a chapter book that I’d recommend to girls at the intermediate reading
level. Illustrations are few, but those that are there are beautifully
imagined. Like any American Girl story I’ve read, the character is a believable
young girl who has her own set of challenges to overcome. As a Girl of the
Year, Saige is a modern girl, not one based on a historic time. If you
appreciate good, clean books for any girls you know, I’d recommend “Saige” and
the other American Girl brand stories. (Click Rutabaga’s Reads 2013: Part 1 for
Caroline, an American Girl historical character.)
The Postmistress is on my to read list.
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