Children's Books discussion

Come join us to discuss the Medal Winner
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
(The Dark is Rising, #4)
and/or either of the Honor books
The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

I found the hundred penny box, not a bad book. It kept me reading it to the end, hoping that something would happen.

The last books my mom read with my brother before he grew too old were the Dark is Rising series. I read them much later after he moved out and left his books behind. The Grey King is a little creepy for me.

I'm a fan of Laurence Yep but Dragonwings isn't my thing. I need to read The Hundred Penny Box.

Hundred Penny Box is on openlibrary.org.

My review: I just cannot appreciate it, though I certainly should. It is lovely to see the little boy's affection for, and support of, his 'aunt' Dew. The mother who wants to get rid of all Dew's junk is a bit over-the-top insensitive, though. And it relates just a little bit of an afternoon, with some historical reminisces. It reads more like a story for The Atlantic or something, for adults, than something for kids.

But that's just my opinion. I'd love to hear from someone who shares it with children.

Dragonwings

Liked it much better than expected.

The boy seems a little older, more insightful, than is realistic, but then it is told as if a memoir, so the adult perceptions influence the memories, so to speak.

I love all the details that make the setting and the variety of characters come alive.
And I learned new things, for example that a lot of ppl. thought the Wright brothers were "humbugs" and didn't actually make that first flight. And that some of the "soldiers" sent to the streets after the Earthquake to control looters did loot cigars, alcohol, and valuables.

I love the fact that the boy's Chinese language is presented in English so we can read it, but the demons' language, the speech of the Americans, the American names, and the untranslatable words, are presented in italics, so we can see which words are harder to learn. And we never learn what "Windrider" or "Moon Shadow" or "Hand Clap" look like or sound like in the original Chinese, and that's ok.

We don't learn enough about China. We learn that the Tang do not like the Manchu at all, even after centuries, and we can infer that life for the common people is very hard since they have to send the men across a great ocean for years to earn money to send home, but that's about it.

It is the middle book of a loose 'series' by the author, and though I appreciate this, I'm not keen to read the others. Probably because I'm so tired of juvenile historical fiction, especially the kind that has so many bad things happen to the families. This has a bit of humor, a bit of joy & hope, but not enough for me.

It absolutely deserves Newbery recognition. And I do recommend it as a timeless classic.

"Another thing to say for the demoness was her genuine interest in learning about people as people. Where some idiot like myself would have been smug and patronizing, the demoness really wanted to learn."