Children's Books discussion

For September, October and November 2024, the topic for the Fiction Club will be moving, but with the stipulation being that immigration, that moving from one country to another will NOT be part of said topic.

Yes, there are many excellent and poignant books out there about the culture shock etc. that immigration, that moving to a different country can and does cause, but even moving to a different province/state, from the country to the city or vice versa, changing schools, moving from a house to an apartment and so on and so on can be traumatic and can feature both adventures and misadventures.

So no stories of moving to another country, please, but all other types of moving (straight fiction and also autobiography or biographical fiction) are fair game (both contemporary and not). I will be adding some titles and reviews that fit the topic later this weekend (which I have already read), and will be starting my new books regarding what I am labelling internal moving with Laura Ingalls Is Ruining My Life, Murphy and Mousetrap and Eagle Song on Monday, September 2.

And I will leave the topic open since August 30 is almost September, so happy reading and have a nice Labour Day long weekend.

Tumbleweed Skies

(view spoiler)[While Valerie Sherrard's middle grade novel (set in 1950s Saskatchewan) Tumbleweed Skies does most definitely present some rather heavy-duty themes that might be (and especially for sensitive readers) rather painful and saddening, I for one do very much appreciate the story's general sense of and scope for realism. And indeed that Ellie's grandmother actually openly accuses Ellie and her father of having been the death of her daughter, of having basically killed Ellie's mother (as Grandmother Acklebee is and remains massively bitter at Ellie's father and by extension also at her granddaughter Ellie because the mother, Grandmother Acklebee's only daughter, eloped and then later died giving birth to Ellie), although this is of course a very much supremely nasty as well as a completely unjust accusation (and especially horrid as the grandmother loudly and directly tells this to Ellie's face), but I for one very much do feel that the author, that Valerie Sherrard refusing to render the grandmother of Tumbleweed Skies more restrained and careful with regard to her bitterness and animosity is in many ways truly a breath of fresh although at the same time also painfully bracing air (albeit I do have to admit that I sometimes wish that Uncle Roger would interfere a bit more when the grandmother's insults become a trifle too much and too vicious, but then again, this wishful thinking on my part, would also not be all that realistic if one considers how hard and bitter Grandmother Acklebee really is and how much Uncle Roger always strives to avoid conflict and/or upsetting his mother, and which is certainly one of the main and most important, essential presented themes of Tumbleweed Skies).

Now in many ways (and in particular with regard to how Valerie Sherrard has chosen to depict and present her main characters of Grandmother Acklebee, Uncle Roger and Ellie), Tumbleweed Skies does rather obviously (and for me in fact very much delightfully) remind me of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series (and indeed, especially the first novel). For Uncle Roger is in my humble opinion both as a character and how he behaves and reacts very much akin and alike to Emily Byrd Starr's Cousin Jimmy and basically, Grandmother Acklebee also has some very obvious and intense similarities to Emily's Aunt Elizabeth, only very very slowly and painfully warming up to her granddaughter Ellie, who like Emily Byrd Starr, is also the daughter of a marriage that went against family wishes and dictates. And furthermore, just like with Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series, Valerie Sherrard also does present in her Tumbleweed Skies a set of main characters who are both intricately nuanced and well developed, realistically, humanely rendered (and with necessary backstories to which we as readers can relate, which we can understand and even consider as being possible reality).

Therefore, while we might well find Grandmother Acklebee's negativity towards Ellie difficult to stomach, to understand and accept, because Valerie Sherrard generally provides necessary information and details as to why and how the grandmother has most likely become so very much bitter, withdrawn and angry, and even though it still of course makes us feel so very much sorry for Ellie being for all intents and purposes rather verbally abused at times (and rightfully saddened and infuriated by Grandmother Acklebee because of this), we always do in Tumbleweed Skies receive and get an understanding of her as a person, and also realise and see the differences in general character and personality between Ellie's grandmother and Ellie's Uncle Roger (who although he has had his face permanently scarred by burns has always kept a positive outlook, which both helps Ellie cope with her grandmother's at best curmudgeonly disposition and also gracefully presents an important lesson that a positive outlook is both necessary and a helpful mechanism for managing life's problems, potential tragedies and sadnesses).

Three and a half stars, but not yet quite four stars (as while I have in fact and most definitely very much enjoyed Tumbleweed Skies and do highly recommend it, I have to admit that I find that entire episode with Sammy, of Ellie rescuing and later setting free a wild magpie a bit artificially tacked on so to speak, and that yes indeed, especially Ellie's "friend" Marcy is just a tad too one dimensionally and tediously negative for my tastes, especially if she is compared to the delicate nuance and character development shown, featured in and with regard to Ellie, Uncle Roger and Grandmother Acklebee).(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Moo

(view spoiler)[Well, I started off really enjoying Creech's thematics and contents for her 2016 novel in verse Moo, as I was simply adoring how Reena's parents actually seem to listen to their daughter's suggestion to move the family to Maine when the question of where to relocate is being posed (so much different to when we moved from Germany to Canada when I was ten, since my siblings and I both had no say at all in the matter and that I was also repeatedly verbally chastised a and reprimanded when I dared to complain a bit and after the move had trouble adjusting and fitting in at school). But indeed, but sadly, as soon as Mrs. Falala makes her appearance in Moo, my original textual enjoyment of Moo (and that the family migrates from a large city to a small town in Maine willingly and not because they are being forced to) pretty well ended up fading into nothing, ended up disappearing into oblivion and leaving me angrily frustrated (and that this annoyance has very strongly remained throughout my perusal and to the point that I can and will now only consider but a two star rating for Moo).

Because honestly, both my adult self and even more so my inner child (and remembering how much I was bullied at school simply because I was German, had an accent and was "different" from my classmates) are simply and utterly furious with and also majorly offended by how Sharon Creech depicts Mrs. Falala in Moo, finding everything about her textual representation problematically stereotypical "Italian" (and in the worst possible manner as well), as someone loud, opinionated, cantankerous, holier than thou obnoxious, lacking any sense of respecting boundaries, basically a portrait of a typical, horribly caricature like and very personally uncomfortable depiction of an Italian grandmother and with the in my opinion artificial broken English Mrs. Falala is presented by Creech as speaking sounding ridiculing, paternalistic and as such also totally nasty. And yes, even if this might well be something unintentional, it ALL bothers me to no end and makes me textually unhappy, furious and even wanting to throw Moo across the room (but not being able to because I am reading Moo on Open Library and of course do not want to damage or to destroy my laptop).

Therefore and combined with some really problematic parenting choices being encountered in Moo (such as for example the parents sending their children alone to Mrs. Falala, to a stranger considered to be eccentric and problematic by the townspeople and then punishing Reena and her younger brother Luke for supposedly being disrespectful to an elder when they dare to fight back against Mrs. Falala harassing Luke about still sucking his thumb and trying to pull the his fingers out of his mouth) and that I also stylistically just do not enjoy how Sharon Creech (with the narrative voice of Reena) keeps misspelling words on purpose for emphasis in Moo (basically lengthening them by adding letters at the end), no, I really and truly have NOT enjoyed Moo after those first few pages, and that the ethnic stereotypical depiction of Italian American Mrs. Falala, yes, that really does make me want to scream (and to point my finger at Sharon Creech and say "stop it already"). (hide spoiler)]

Anastasia Again!

(view spoiler)[Yes, I have certainly found in particular main character Anastasia Krupnik’s resistance to her family moving from their urban apartment to the suburbs realistic and as such also very personally relatable (as I myself also absolutely despised and was furious with the entire concept of having to relocate, of having to move when my family immigrated from Germany to Canada when I was of a similar age as Anastasia). However and my being sympathetic towards Anastasia’s reluctance to moving notwithstanding, I must admit that I also have not really experienced the Anastasia from Anastasia Again with nearly as much joy and personal delight as in the first novel, as in Anastasia Krupnik.

For indeed, I have found especially the often ridiculous assumptions and conjectures which both Anastasia and indeed also her mother tend to make not only annoying to the extreme but yes, even massively infuriating, mostly because in my opinion, it is often strange and outrageous guesstimations and speculations that can and do lead to bullying and misunderstandings. And from where I stand, in Anastasia Again, author Lois Lowry basically does not really go far enough with regard to providing sufficient textual criticism of especially Anastasia’s assumptive attitudes towards the suburbs and their residents. As while of course by the end of the book, Anastasia has actually learned a bit of a lesson regarding making and perpetuating such postulations, as has her mother for that matter when she realises that Anastasia’s invited friends are not some type of gang members but just a group of delightful and interesting senior citizens whom Anastasia met downtown and bonded with, I for one definitely would want her parents not only to point out to their daughter that she is making assumptions but also showing the potential harm that can occur and indeed, to perhaps also have some disciplinary consequences that Anastasia has to perhaps even a bit painfully learn (that one cannot just mouth off and use words as weapons, that words can and do hurt and painfully so and that in particular being generalising and presumptive can definitely cause much pain, mischief and havoc).

And therefore, although generally I have indeed found Anastasia Again fun, engaging and sweetly delightful (with myself also much appreciating that Anastasia Krupnik and her family are not in any way perfect, that both the children and the parents have their foibles and peccadilloes), the fact that to and for me, Anastasia’s tendency to constantly generalise and speculate is not nearly enough narrationally criticised by Lois Lowry, this does make me lower my star rating for Anastasia Again from four to but three stars. (hide spoiler)]

Little House on the Prairie

(view spoiler)[This is not really a review of the general contents and themes of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, but more my personal take and attitude towards the fact that this book has been (and like so many others) repeatedly challenged and even at times banned/censored (mostly due to the way Native Americans are depicted and the attitudes shown towards them).

And yes, there are indeed some rather major issues with Little House on the Prairie, and especially the attitudes presented towards Native Americans are certainly problematic to say the least. However, the actual considerations towards Native Americans were in the 19th century often very much akin to those shown in the novel, to those shown in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s text and the claim that the "only good Indian is a dead Indian" was unfortunately common amongst many settlers (like the Scotts, who I think, uttered these words). And well, those who would challenge the Little House on the Prairie novels and attempt to have them banned are thus (in my opinion) not only being censorious, but even worse, they are in fact attempting to erase the unfortunate truth that Native Americans were often historically seen in this way. And indeed and in my opinion, Little House on the Prairie would therefore be a good starting point for discussions, although I do realise the novel could I guess also be used and likely has been used by those against Native Americans to bolster and justify their own prejudices (however, this can be and has been the case with many, if not most controversial books, and will likely remain thus).

And frankly, while I have more than a bit of trouble with the way Native Americans are depicted and the attitudes shown towards them in Little House on the Prairie (I especially find the often totally glowing descriptions of Ma, of Caroline Ingalls more than a bit hard to stomach, as she is really quite the stereotyper, much more so than Charles Ingalls, although also not yet on the same level as the Scotts), I do very much appreciate the fact that Laura Ingalls Wilder has not tried pretend that viewpoints towards Native Americans were different and more positive (since if she had, for example, written stories about the Ingalls family becoming close to and good friends with their Native American neighbours, although this might feel more acceptable to our modern sensibilities, it also would be, for the most part, woefully and perhaps even dangerously anachronistic).

And finally, one must also realise that while Little House on the Prairie is considered historical fiction, it was written at a time when negative impressions of or at the very least patronising and Euro-centric attitudes towards Native Americans were still very much not only acceptable, but common. The novel describes the past, but is also of its time (1930s America) and should be read, appreciated and approached as such.

And I also wonder, whether those individuals who believe that Little House on the Prairie should be banned and/or censored consider themselves to be educated, to be socially active, to be fighting against bigotry and the like (and the answer would probably be a resounding "yes" for most). However, if one strives to ban or censor books, one is behahving (and no matter for what reason one attempts to ban or censor a book) the same or at least in a similar manner as that against which one is fighting. Education, understanding, solidarity will never be reached, nor will the battle against bigotry ever be won by using similarly problematic (and draconian) means, but through thoughtful discussion and debate (in my opinion, banning books, no matter for what purpose, is and always will be an act of bigotry, an act of dictatorial over-reaching, an act that destroys freedom and only creates more strife). (hide spoiler)]

And just to say that there are a number of Little House on the Prairie novels that feature moving households, not just Little House on the Prairie.

Making Music

(view spoiler)[Sadly, while Susan Bonners' Making Music does indeed present all kinds of with potential emotion imbued premises (particularly regarding how moving often does seem to stress out and negatively affect older children and that friendships can also and maybe even should increasingly be more multi-generational), nothing in any manner really all that inherently interesting actually seems to ever materialise with and in Susan Bonners' presented text, with there being so many multiple and interesting issues featured in Making Music (but yes, never actually all that much expanded upon), such as how Annie is quite annoyed and upset at the family having had to move for her mother's work and that therefore she will no longer be able to have her uncle teach her how to play the piano, that the parents are clearly divorced, that Annie is devastated at her box of horse miniatures having been lost in the move. For far too often, in Making Music, a thematic scenario is started by Susan Bonners and then just left to basically and totally wither and shrivel up (for example, how that Annie's parents are recently divorced is basically shown in just a few short sentences and the reasons why are never at all explored, and yes, that the thread of Annie being understandably upset at the loss of her box of horse figurines during the move, while this is of course mentioned, after Annie has called the moving company to let them know of this, the whole story seems to just totally disappear from the pages of Making Music when Annie then makes friends with her elderly neighbour Mrs. Bergstrom).

Furthermore, even Annie's friendship with Mrs. Bergstrom and that she, that Mrs. Bergstrom will be giving Annie her desired and wished for piano lessons, Susan Bonners' depiction of this also has been rather totally and majorly disappointing, since we as readers do not actually ever get to really know Mrs. Bergstrom in any way intimately (as I for one certainly was wanting to know more about her life and also why Mrs. Bergstrom was no longer actively giving music lessons). And indeed, it really does feel like a total and utter let-down (as well as also kind of being a bit misleading if looking at the book title) that as soon as Mrs. Bergstrom starts to give Annie her piano lessons, Making Music just finishes, just stops in medias res so to speak, remaining (at least in my humble opinion) annoyingly unfinished and equally also giving the distinct and rather uncomfortable feeling that Making Music is in fact more like the outline of a novel but not really a finished and polished end product (with oh so much that could have been and should have been added and included to make the narrative, to make Annie's story more rounded and full-circle). (hide spoiler)]

Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach

(view spoiler)[While Barbara Kathleen Nickel's Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach indeed has endings that might for some readers seem a trifle too facile and easy, for all intents and purposes (and as a general music themed and based both historical fiction and contemporary issues tale), Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach is definitely a both delightful and thought-provoking middle grade novel, weaving together multiple thematic threads into a lovely and gently inspiring whole (involving history, music, bullying, and yes, how adults and children either handle or choose not to handle questions about the reality and pain of death and loss).

So Barbara Kathleen Nickel begins her Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach with Hannah Waters and her father having recently relocated to Saskatchewan (from Southern Ontario). Hannah's mother (who was of course also the father's wife) has recently died, and dealing with this loss has been made considerably more traumatic for especially young Hannah because her father's way of confronting his own grief has been to completely bottle up his feelings, whilst his daughter, whilst Hannah desperately both wants and needs to talk about her mother, to discuss death and her feelings with him. Now Hannah's mother had been a celebrated professional violinist, and Hannah (who has inherited her mother's musical talents and is herself a student of the violin) feels certain that her own budding violin playing would improve (and that she also would be able to feel much closer to her deceased mother and be more easily able to understand and accept her death) if she were allowed to play her mother's treasured historic violin, if she were even just permitted to once in a while hold said violin close to her. But sadly thus far, Hannah’s father has stubbornly refused to even consider either taking the violin from where he has hidden it or even remotely discussing his wife's/Hannah's mother' death and their joint loss (even though it is made abundantly clear in Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach that his wife had obviously stipulated that in the event of her death, Hannah was to inherit, was to play her very special 18th century German made violin). Combined with being the new girl in a rather cliquey small town Saskatchewan school and having to face some annoying, bordering on nasty bullying from the so-called popular girls, Hannah's life is thus at present, at the beginning of Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach pretty sadly miserable, especially since her one solace, her violin playing, is also fraught with emotion and potential strife and sadness. For not only does the violin naturally and constantly remind both her father and Hannah of the fact that the mother (the wife) has died, is no longer living, even Hannah's student grade violin has itself recently become at best problematic for her, vacillating between being her best friend to sometimes truly being her worst enemy, being a millstone, a never ending chore and ever-present obligation.

And across time and space, in early 18th century Germany, Catharina Bach, the eldest child of musician and composer Johann Sebastian Bach is having her own set of issues, is experiencing a similarly depressing life as Hannah. With younger brothers who are both boisterous and as sons of course also considered more worthy of acknowledgement, Catharine is having trouble speaking up, and even being noticed by her famous musician and composer father. Because although Catharina clearly posseses as much musical acumen and talent as her brothers do, her father (Johann Sebastian Bach) only seems to notice that his daughter is physically tall and at times clumsy. When Catharina’s musically talented mother then teaches her daughter transcription (while Johann Sebastian Bach is away on an extended business and performance tour), Catharina might have finally found a way to get her father, to get Johann Sebastian Bach to notice her, to become aware of Catharina’s musical and transcription talents. But then the mother becomes fatally ill.

Now yes indeed, neither Hannah Waters nor Catharina Bach ever actually do meet in person, but through the course of Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, their lives do seem to become increasingly, a bit strangely but also sweetly and beautifully intertwined, often not only mirroring each other's existences but actually to the point that Catharina totally feels and experiences Hannah and vice versa (both each other's happinesses and sadnesses). And the specific link between them seems to be emanating not only from their rather similar life events and experiences (including a for Hannah deceased and for Catharina an ill and dying mother), but also from their mutual love of music, from Bach's Concerto for Two Violins and Johann Sebastian Bach's actual violin, since Hanna’s mother's historic violin, the violin she used to play at her recitals, her performances, is in fact and indeed Johann Sebastian Bach's own violin, the instrument for which he originally composed his Concerto for Two Violins.

But well, even though in Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, Hannah and Catharina never in fact converse with one another (and which is actually rather fortunate, as Hannah Waters speaks English and Catharina Bach would of course be speaking German), they do continuously appear to be aware of each other, to feel each other as presences across the aether, across time and space (providing emotional support, music, as well as comfort with regard to their mothers' fates). Highly recommended is Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, but with the necessary caveat that the theme of death is indeed prevalent throughout, and although handled and depicted gently enough, sensitive readers might well tear up a bit especially with regard to Catharina's mother, for while Hannah's own mother is already deceased at the beginning of Hannah Waters and there Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, Maria Bach dies during the course of the novel and her death is also described in detail, not in any way horribly or gruesomely, but yes, in considerable detail. (hide spoiler)]

The Island Horse

(view spoiler)[Although in The Island Horse author Susan Hughes does indeed evocatively and descriptively depict 19th century coastal Nova Scotia (and of course in particular Sable Island with its wild, windswept beaches, its feral horses and how the few people stationed, residing there are generally first and foremost employed as rescuers, responsible for scanning the surrounding and often treacherous waters for possible shipwrecks) and while young Ellie's palpable despair and yes also justifiable anger at having to relocate to Sable Island with her father (who has finally been offered a well paying permanent job) and leaving their home, their village, her best friend (and most importantly, her mother's grave) is both relatable and heartbreaking, there is at least to and for me and logically speaking too much that just does not really seem to narrationally work with regard to The Island Horse (for even in a novel, if said novel strives to be realistic and which in my opinion The Island Horse always seems to do, the themes, the main storyline should indeed make logical and common sense).

And sorry, especially how quickly Ellie seems to lastingly befriend that Sable Island stallion (whom she ends up naming Orchid) and his herd, considering that he is a wild, a feral horse, this simply does not make all that much sense to and for me (and no, I am not actually implying that it is illogical for Ellie to have approached and even befriended Orchid, but knowing something about wild horses in and of themselves, the fact that this befriending, that Orchid basically becomes tame enough for her to give him an apple the second time they but meet and that on the third day of The Island Horse so to speak, that during the horse roundup, supposedly still wild stallion Orchid basically and like a well-trained pet willingly follows Ellie to safety with his herd in tow, I do find that more than a bit difficult to believe and accept on a realism level).

Combined with the fact that the writing style presented, that Susan Hughes' modes of narrational expression are furthermore just a trifle too choppy, and too annoyingly stream of conscience like for my personal tastes and liking, I have to admit that I have not really enjoyed The Island Horse nearly as much as I had fondly hoped and expected to. And yes, I also do find it rather strangely unbelievable that Ellie's father would so immediately and without any questions and arguments against agree to sabotage the roundup of the horses for her. For while I do indeed appreciate that same sentiment in and of itself (because Susan Hughes' depiction of the roundup does very much sound terrible and extremely traumatic for the wild horses) the fact and truth of the matter remain that the roundup is shown by the author as being a necessary event to keep the rescue boats and such financed, to basically pay for the supplies that Ellie's father and his fellow workers will require to adequately do their jobs, and I for one do have to seriously shake my head and wonder that Ellie's father would agree to engage in anything that could possibly jeopardise his new (and oh so important and longed for) job, even for his daughter, even for Ellie's happiness, not to mention that I also find it more than a bit problematic that island girl Sarah to whom Ellie had certainly not been all that friendly, all that civil also almost immediately (and as soon as Ellie asks) decides to help with disrupting the roundup event.

Still and nevertheless, not a bad equine based story is The Island Horse and for the intended age group, but especially for horse interested girls from about the age of nine to twelve very much likely a both entertaining and yes also emotional and evocative reading experience (with the author's sense of time and place most definitely a glowing positive). However, for me, Susan Hughes' choppy and uneven writing style as well as some of her what I can only consider as illogical leaps, what I can only call narrational content that is at best a bit fantastical and unrealistic, have definitely more than somewhat spoiled The Island Horse for me on a personal reading pleasure level (but I would still, my own misgivings notwithstanding, suggest giving The Island Horse a try if the subject matter, if the book description is of possible interest, as especially younger readers might very well not find how fast Ellie befriends and gentles Orchid, which I have found so hard to fully accept and believe, all that much of a problematic issue). (hide spoiler)]

The Ghost of Northumberland Strait

(view spoiler)[Thirteen year old Charly, her mother and older sister Nikki have moved from Alberta to Prince Edward Island following her parents' divorce. Having moved in with Grammie (Charly's maternal grandmother), everyone, Charly included, is experiencing some problems adjusting. Grammie and Charly's mother don't always get along, while Nikki seems more moody than usual. And while Charly seems to have adjusted better than her mother and sister, she does miss her father, her former home in Alberta, but most of all, she misses her best friend, Allie. One day, Charly, Nikki and other local children break into an old, abandoned house on the Northumberland Strait, where Charly perceives a mysterious presence. Returning alone to the house the next day, she seemingly slips back in time and meets Katherine, the house's mysterious, sad inhabitant. As Charly and Katherine become friends, Charly realises that Katherine (who is, indeed, a ghost) is trapped in her former house, unable to find peace, due to her grief over the death of her infant son, Robert. By helping Katherine come to terms with Robert's death, to find peace, Charly herself learns not only to accept her new life, the divorce, the move to P.E.I., she also discovers that Katherine is/was intimately and personally connected with and to the family.

Although I would definitely label Lori Knutson's The Ghost of Northumberland Strait as a ghost story, the novel actually focuses much more (and for me fortunately) on family relationships and inter-personal conflicts than the uncanny, the supernatural. With that in mind, even readers who might tend to find ghost stories creepy and frightening would most likely not have any (or few) such issues with this novel; The Ghost of Northumberland Strait is basically a sweet and evocative family story packaged in the loose wrappings (the costume) of a ghost story.

And yes, characters encountered throughout The Ghost of Northumberland Strait are, for the most part, vividly and realistically depicted. Charlie especially is an engaging and personable narrator-protagonist, and while the narrative and flow of the text do appear a bit disjointed and distracted at times, this scenario actually makes the story feel all the more realistic, all the more believable as being the thoughts and musings of a young teenage girl; Charly's distracted storylines and anecdotes appear authentic, typical for her age. Furthermore, Grammie and Katherine are equally vividly drawn. You can almost feel and taste Katherine's fear and sadness, while the grandmother is clearly shown and depicted as being not only a person who believes in the uncanny and mysterious, she is also presented as someone who actually and truly tries to listen (Charly's grandmother believes in her story, in her account that she has seen a ghost, while her mother does not only not believe Charly at first, but has also been rather remote and distant lately, too occupied with her own misery to be aware of Charly's sadness about the divorce, her homesickness for Alberta and her fears about adjusting to the family's new life in P.E.I.).

Although I did (at least at first) find some of the multiple conflicts and frictions between Grammie and her daughters (Charly's mother and aunt) a bit puzzling and difficult to comprehend, one must remember, yet again, that the inter-generational conflicts and squabbles described in The Ghost of Northumberland Strait are reported through the filter, through the lens of Charly's own voice and perception, and that she might in fact not know all of the relevant information, or might not have been told everything. For example, one of Charly's uncles died young, but since nobody in the family ever talks about this, there is no way for Charly and by extension the reader to know if some of the family conflicts might have their origin there (and of course, I am only speculating here, but I really do want and need to demonstrate that Charly's own perception, her own knowledge of her family background or rather her potential lack thereof might also likely have made her descriptions of the frictions between her grandmother and her daughters seem somewhat lacking and unconvincing).

Now the only episode in The Ghost of Northumberland Strait that has always seemed a bit artificial and thus a tad problematic to me is the quite overtly Christian ceremony that Charly and her family have for Katherine at the town cemetery. Yes, I actually do think that the idea of a ceremony at the cemetery so that Katherine might finally find peace is a wonderful, hopeful idea (and ending) in and of itself. But because of the fact that organised religion, that Christianity, was never a major, relevant theme throughout most of the novel, the quite overtly Christian prayer and song (Amazing Grace) do feel a bit artificial and abrupt, a bit like an externally imposed moral; a simple prayer or poem not specifically Christian, not specific to any religion, would (in my opinion) have worked much better and felt more natural. However, except for this minor little quibble, I have very much enjoyed this little gem and would not hesitate to recommend The Ghost of Northumberland Strait for older children (especially young tween or teenaged girls from about age eleven onwards). It is an engaging, sweet family story, with both a winsome and charming young protagonist as well as a winsome and charming ghost (both Charly and Katherine are treasures, and Grammie also truly shines). (hide spoiler)]

Even though I have never thought that Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is primarily about moving, it is true that the story starts with Margaret and her parents moving from the city to the suburbs and Margaret having to deal with a new school etc.

The Old Willis Place

A ghost story first and foremost, but also a story of a girl recently relocated finding two lonely ghosts, making friends with and helping them (many of Mary Downing Hahn's ghost stories also feature stories of moving and the changes this brings).

(view spoiler)[Although some readers might well and even with ample reason find the rather obvious standard predicability of Mary Downing Hahn's The Old Willis Place a trifle repetitive, for someone like myself who has always tended to scare rather too easily (and indeed, I have in the past often been plagued by nightmares after watching frightening movies or reading certain types of horror fiction), that same predicability which inhabits The Old Willis Place, I have actually rather welcomed it as almost being a godsend, for this certainly has managed to calm my nerves and to allow me to keep reading and yes, actually quite enjoying the author's presented ghost story narrative even when, even once the themes and scenarios were definitely becoming more and more potentially frightening and creepily saddening.

However, while I most definitely have very much appreciated The Old Willis Place as a novel, and even indeed very much loving the ending (which I do think that is a sweetly satisfying conclusion, with especially Diana, Georgie and their parents finally finding peace), personally, I guess I would have rather had as part of the ending of The Old Willis Place that Diana and Georgie had not only found rest (and their parents, of course) but at the same time also being able to keep active and "alive" their budding friendship with Lissa and her father (and I certainly must also admit that the angry part of my personality did and still does think that Old Miss Lillian Willis certainly got off far far too easily and painlessly considering her actions, considering what her crimes against Diana and Georgie had been). Three stars and definitely recommended as a solid, mildly creepy but thankfully also not ever too overtly and gratuitously violent Middle Grade ghost story (and the only reason I am not ready to consider a four star ranking for The Old Willis Place is that how Mary Downing Hahn presents the many "rules" that govern Diana and Georgie's existence as ghosts has been both rather overly exaggerated and not always depicted and penned in a non potentially confounding and wishy washy fashion). (hide spoiler)]

The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story (again a ghost story that is also a story regarding moving, a good enough tale, but I did NOT like the ending all that much)

(view spoiler)[With Mary Downing Hahn's The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story, I do have to admit that this is one of those stories where I have been so personally and massively disappointed with and by (in particular) the ending that my reading pleasure has in fact and indeed been lastingly and negatively affected (and to such an extent that I really have ended up not enjoying the story as a whole nearly as much as I had fondly assumed and hoped I would). For yes, I was kind of majorly wanting and even totally expecting after Jules and her new friend Maisie had convinced ghost girl Lily to leave the locked room and change the past (to save her artist father and her mother from being murdered and by extension also her from dying of hunger and thirst in the locked room which she had of course been afraid to leave since her father had told her to hide and to only come out when called) that in fact and indeed, not only the past but also the future (the present) had been truly and realistically altered. In other words and very much alike to Antonia Barber's novel The Ghosts, that the Bennet family names on the cemetery headstone would also disappear (or at least appear as them not having been murdered but dying of normal old age sometime in the future), that Lily's family had thus not simply moved into some kind of alternative existence (with Lily, spurned on by Jules and Maisie, truly having changed the reality of the past so that she and her parents not only survived the attack, the home invasion, but continued to live and prosper at Oak Hill, and that the murder of artist Henry Bennet and his wife had thus never happened, that Lily and Aunt Nellie had saved them and indeed that chief villain Mr. Bailey was in absolute reality the one who had ended up killed, with his coconspirator Ellis Dixon imprisoned and tied up, and not just in some alternative type of life, some alternate universe so to speak, but in actual and total reality).

Now while my problems with the ending are of course being a mostly personal quibble, and even though I have found much of The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story an engagingly sweet ghost (and time slip) tale that also presents and features important messages (lessons) regarding friendship, bravery and yes, that parents do need to consider their children's wishes and their need for a stable and not constantly changing existence and not just their own desires and wants, from a purely personal reading enjoyment point of departure, I have found The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story definitely not what I was expecting according to the GR book description (which in my opinion certainly does seem to insinuate that Jules and Maisie do help Lily change the past). And therefore, only a two and a half star ranking from me, but rounded down to two stars, as I also and sadly have found Jules' artist parents rather neglectful and nonchalant towards their daughter at best, with the father until the very end of the novel stubbornly insisting on continuing his nomadic life of travelling around the country restoring historic buildings and the mother (who is a writer) also often seemingly using her daughter's, using Jules' unhappiness and even her anger at how she is always forced to change schools and can thus never really make lasting friends as intellectual, as thematic fodder for her novels, for her literary characters (and yes, this is such a nasty difference if one looks at Henry Bennet, who although he is an artist and also a very famous one, never once loses sight of the fact that he has a family and that his family comes first). And even though by the end of The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story, Jules' family does appear to be described by Mary Downing Hahn as staying on in Hillsborough on a more permanent basis, I do still feel (inside of me) that the father in particular is likely only staying because this place looks like a good career opportunity for him and indeed that if something better and more tempting (historic house restoration wise) were coming along, that he would more than likely once again not at all hesitate to once again uproot his family and leave like a total and utter nomad. (hide spoiler)]

The Ghosts (a time slip story that also deals with a family relocating to creepy manor house when the widowed mother gets a job as housekeeper)

(view spoiler)[So yes indeed, Antonia Barber's delightful and atmospheric ghost story (or perhaps, more of a time slip novel, as the supposed departed spirits in The Ghosts are actually time travelling children, two British siblings from the past, and also two British siblings from the present) was one of the first full-length children's novels I read entirely in English (in the autumn of 1977, a school library book that took me almost two months to finish, however, considering I was eleven years old at the time and had only been speaking, reading and writing English for less than a year, perhaps not all that long a reading time, since I also at that time still had to look up a goodly number of words in the dictionary and there were also certain British expressions that were of course wholly unfamiliar to me, as we had immigrated not to the United Kingdom but to Canada).

And being a rather timid and sensitive child (but always interested in history, genealogy, and travelling back in time to "set the record straight" so to speak), The Ghosts was for me at the age of eleven, an absolutely perfect combination (historical, genealogical, even slightly spooky, but with not too much creepiness so as to unnecessarily frighten me), a massively enjoyable read that aside from pleasure also instilled a sense of pride of completion in me (and made me realise with satisfaction that I was now indeed ready for more than easy-to-read chapter books in English, even if many of my teachers were still and sometimes quite stubbornly so vociferously insisting on these for me, not caring that I for one was both bored and feeling increasingly and annoyingly frustrated).

Now my more recent rereads of The Ghosts, they have proven almost, but perhaps also not quite as massively enjoyable and satisfying as my 1977 reading (for while I still very much love this sweet little tale, I am also not in any way blind to the fact that there are definite some issues with datedness and certain leaps of logic). Yes, for the most part, Antonia Barber has more than succeeded creating, has verbally painted and described in The Ghosts a nuanced, descriptive, and mostly believable, realistic (albeit also a bit magical) atmosphere (both in the present and in the Victorian past) and with some minor exceptions, the presented characters are also realistically and believably conceptualised (the one main and rather glaring exception being that especially the two main antagonists in The Ghosts, the Victorian housekeepers, are just a wee bit too one-sided, a trifle too wholly nasty and cardboard stock like evil for my liking). And while there are also and indeed a few issues with social and gender stratification occurring in The Ghosts (namely that Jamie, although much younger than his sister Lucy, ends up inheriting the manor simply because he is male) one must remember that The Ghosts was penned in 1969 and that laws of primogeniture were at that time still very much and firmly in place in much if not most of Great Britain (and they actually often are still in place even today).

But as an adult reader, that entire time slip, the entire going back in time to "set things right" scenario of The Ghosts might perhaps seem rather unbelievable, if not even impossible (for if Sarah and Georgie had actually died in that manor house fire, as it is shown at the beginning of The Ghosts, and before Lucy and Jamie had travelled back in time to save them, they realistically and logically could not have been related to the latter, as Sarah and Georgie would never have lived to grow up and bear children). But let's face it, these types of inconsistencies are very common in many if not actually even rather the majority of such time travel fantasies (and both in adult and children's fiction for that matter), and as a child, these inconsistencies did not bother me at all. And in fact, I have also only very mildly noticed them during my recent rereadings of The Ghosts (enough for me to be aware of them, but not in any manner sufficiently for me to be overly much peeved and frustrated).

Finally, while I personally in no way mind the Anglicanism, the Easter based religiosity at the end of The Ghosts (and actually appreciate its inclusion, as it adds to the sense of time and place, and shows in particular the village Vicar as being not only just religious but first and foremost a human being who strives to comfort, lead and advise) I do understand that for some readers, this does or could have the tendency to feel a bit tacked on and super-imposed (and perhaps even feel religiously uncomfortable). Thus, while I absolutely do strongly recommend The Ghosts, I must also offer as caveats that there are certainly minor potential points of contention with regard to social/gender stratification, gaps of, leaps of logic and that there is the rather overt inclusion of Anglican religion and dogma at the end (however for me, the most problematic and yes frustratingly annoying issue with The Ghosts is actually that the novel is not only not in current print and relatively rare, but that even the used mass market paperback editions often tend to be very, sometimes even obscenely expensive).

EDITED TO ADD: Please do note that The Ghosts has also been published as The Amazing Mr. Blunden (and there was actually a movie made in the 1970s with the latter title which unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to watch). And I have indeed noticed that The Amazing Mr. Blunden does seem somewhat more readily available and at times even very slightly less expensive than The Ghosts (but I actually also have no idea whether The Amazing Mr. Blunden is simply the same story as The Ghosts under a different title or whether there have been additions or subtractions, read changes or abridgements).(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Ghosts (ghost story, family story, illness story and also a moving story where the one sister resents having to move because of her younger sister's cystic fibrosis)

(view spoiler)[REVIEW OF THE KINDLE EDITION (and very nicely rendered as an e-book)

To tell the truth, I first read Raina Telgemeier's 2016 graphic novel Ghosts earlier this year, but have not really until just now managed to figure out how to actually star rank Ghosts and what kind of a review I would be posting.

Now I have certainly found both reading joy and exquisitely rendered pain within Raina Telegemeier's printed words (and I also aesthetically consider Telgemeier's accompanying artwork for Ghosts to be bright and imaginative but also at the same time still a realistic enough visual compliment to the latter, to her text) and with little Maya's increasingly losing battle with cystic fibrosis certainly bringing tears to my eyes but also feelings of immense pride with regard to how bravely and often with an engaging sense of humour Maya tries to deal with her affliction, and yes, with older sister Catrina's feelings of guilt that she rather often seems to feel impatient with and even at times resentful towards her little (and seriously ill) sister and that she is also majorly incensed at the family having had to move to a new area of California due to Maya's CF (with the hope that the more humid and foggy climate there will be better for her precarious health) both leaving me emotionally tenderhearted and full of sympathy but also sometimes and indeed rendering me quite livid and furious as well with regard to how Cat is often behaving annoyingly and acting horribly towards not only her family but really towards quite everyone in town (at least at the very beginning of Ghosts when the family first arrives).

However, albeit that the family story as it is related in Ghosts (about a mother and father with a chronically and genetically ill young daughter and how this and the fact that there is no cure for cystic fibrosis is obviously affecting every family member and each in pretty different ways) has most definitely been a very much and absolutely lovely (even if also saddening) reading experience, if indeed this were the extent of Ghosts I would most likely be rating Raina Telgemeier's narrative (and her combination of text and images) with four to five stars. But yes and unfortunately, there also is a very strong and persistent supernatural element and component being featured and presented in Ghosts (including the rather strange and not really ever sufficiently enough for me explained factoid that all of the departed spirits talked about and celebrated in Ghosts during the Day of the Dead celebration are in fact supposed to be totally and absolutely real and that the Day of the Dead celebrations in Ghosts do therefore not only honour deceased ancestors but that these same ancestors actually do then make bona fide appearances and even physically interact with the celebrants, drinking with them, dancing with them, talking with them).

And while I do not generally have issues reading ghost stories (if they are not too creepy, that is, and Ghosts has certainly not been all that creepy or frightening), I also do tend to find the entire concept of the departed spirits during the Day of the Dead festivities actually and totally being real entities both generally a bit personally uncomfortable and unbelievable and equally also rather tacked onto the main storyline of Ghosts and not really incorporated all that well and smoothly into Catrina and her family's personal story and their life and health based issues and problems with younger sister Maya's CF (rather suspended in space and feeling to me personally as though Raina Telgemeier has simply added the Day of the Dead and the ghostly appearances for shock value and for an interesting autumn celebration to be portrayed and shown, and in my humble opinion with the end result being that the entire Day of the Dead celebration parts and all of the explanations of ghosts and the like being potentially real kind of feeling and reading like a bit of an afterthought and perhaps even somewhat of an inadvertent caricature, not terrible of course, but in my opinion certainly pretty much more than somewhat diluting the tender and heartfelt family tale parts of Raina Telgemeier's text and thus really only making Ghosts but a three star story for me). (hide spoiler)]

Train I Ride

(view spoiler)[Although thematically Paul Mosier’s Train I Ride does present much content that is depressing (or rather that could easily and majorly be saddening) and especially for a middle grade novel (a teenaged orphaned girl, whose mother died of a drug overdose and whose caregiver grandmother is now also deceased being sent by the authorities alone on a three day train ride across the USA to meet her new legal guardian, an elderly uncle she has never met) thankfully and appreciatively, author Paul Mosier (and in my opinion) absolutely manages to for one not make Train I Ride into a gratuitous sob fest of negativity (in other words, the issues protagonist and narrator Ryder must deal with are both realistically portrayed by Mosier and also from where I not overly exaggerated as is sadly so often the case with so called problem literature). And for two, and just as essentially, Ryder’s for her young age pretty heavy duty and traumatic life experiences are in Train I Ride also very much mitigated by the fact that throughout her train ride, erstwhile tough and with an artificially created hard shell of not caring, of being silent and curmudgeonly as a type of defence mechanism Ryder increasingly is able and willing to open up her heart and soul to both some of her fellow passengers and also to the train hands charged with making sure she safely arrives in a Chicago (discovering that she is a poet and that friendship is actually not that rare a thing, that therefore she should also be more trusting and open minded, more willing to take a chance with regard to the people around her).

Combined with a totally delightful and flowing writing style that not only shows Ryder’s first person narration both as strongly personal and totally age appropriate (with Ryder recounting her story and experiences in a voice that is clearly her own and teenaged and thankfully thus not Paul Mosier the author trying to artificially sound like a teenaged girl) but which to and for me also seems to imitate and capture the rolling, wheeling movement of Ryder’s train ride from Los Angeles to Chicago, with its ups and downs, with its peaks and valleys (with the Amtrak train externally being constantly on the go and edging ever closer to Chicago, but with Ryder also internally slowly meandering closer and closer to increased understanding, acceptance and trust), Train I Ride has indeed been one of my increasingly rare and treasured five star reads for me, and yes, Train I Ride I also do most highly and warmly recommended (and not only to the intended audience of in my opinion readers from about the age of eleven or so onwards but really for everyone). (hide spoiler)]

The Warden's Niece (Maria running away from her boarding school to Oxford University to stay with her uncle)

(view spoiler)[Yes indeed, I do really wish that Gillian Avery's 1957 school/university themed novel The Warden's Niece (titled as Maria Escapes for the US market, and why the title needed to be changed, I really do not know) was a bit more universally known and appreciated, as it is a story that is both entertainingly delightful and thought-provoking (especially with regard to girls' academic ambitions). Set in England (in the latter part of the 19th century), the main protagonist, Maria, is a bit shy and timid but dreams the at that time still majorly impossible dream (to become a professor at Oxford University, and impossible, because while in the 1870s, women could attend lectures at Oxford, they would not be able to actually become full members until 1920). However and unfortunately, the all female boarding school Maria is attending is not only repressively conservative but also rather woefully unacademic with the so-called teachers really not being at all interested in imparting knowledge to their students, but moulding them into model citizens, good little housewives, and draconically punishing even minor infractions against petty rules (such as sloppy penmanship or ink spots on one's clothing or books). And after one particularly horrible lesson, Maria (who simply cannot and does not want to adjust to these petty dictates of her school any longer) runs away to Oxford University, where her uncle is warden at the fictitious Canterbury College.

Maria's uncle, the Warden, is depicted and presented by Gillian Avery as someone who on the one hand is very much in agreement with and sympathetic to his niece's academic aspirations (and to universal education for both males and females in fact), but who is on the other hand also absolutely dismissive of girls' schools and academies in general (and not because the Warden does not believe that girls and women should be educated, but because he astutely and with more than just cause and reason has realised that most schools that cater specifically to girls are simply and utterly incompetently unsuitable for serious academics, for actual intellectual pursuits, as is pretty sadly and horribly demonstrated by the girls-only boarding school from which Maria has escaped). And thus, after Maria turns up at Canterbury College, her uncle not only decides that Maria should remain with him, but that she should (gasp) take her lessons with the three sons of Profesor Smith (cocky James, anxious Joshua, and Thomas, who acts a bit superior and lofty and will soon be leaving to attend a prestigious rugby school). And their (Maria's, James', Joshua's and Thomas') tutor, Mr. Copplestone, although sympathetically depicted and portrayed by the author, also proves to be rather madcap and prone to misadventure (with tripping and falling into a henhouse being just one of his many hilarious escapades).

Now although The Warden's Niece always strives to depict Maria as a serious and inherently academically inclined student with legitimate and very particular college/university based ambitions (and as already alluded to previously, with a professorship at Oxford being Maria's ultimate dream), she is also not a so-called Blue Stocking, and Mr. Copplestone as a character, as well as the sometimes rather reckless and fiasco prone exploits of the Brothers Smith do provide a very much entertaining backdrop and prevent The Warden's Niece from turning into simply a lesson on Maria's pursuit of academics and research (and while Maria's own escapades when she endeavours through original research to discover the identity of an unnamed boy in a historical portrait are indeed perhaps sometimes a bit over-the-top, a trifle too gratuitously adventuresome and perhaps even a bit artificially exciting, they also do remain for the most part interesting, entertaining and readable, with Maria not only discovering the name of the portrait boy, but the Warden offering praise for his niece's university level research, her perseverance, and even stating that Maria should write a reasearch paper to deliver to the Kentish Historical Society on her finds, on her research, her conclusions).

And while Gillian Avery does NOT (of course, and actually thankfully, as that would be majorly anachronistic for a novel set in 1870s England) conclude The Warden's Niece with Maria either attending Oxford or being offered a fellowship, the plot, the storyline presents an entertaining, lively and fun reading experience, an adventuresome and delightful romp that also and for and to me very much importantly is an avowal, a declaration of the universal rights of girls and women to a suitable and above all an academic education, that ALL girls, that ALL women should have the opportunity to practice, to pursue academics, intellectual study and research based educational pursuits. (hide spoiler)]

The Diddakoi (Kizzy moves from her grandmother's wagon to a manor house, deals with much bullying, which I do not think is handled well by the author).)

(view spoiler)[While I in particular have appreciated the happy ending of Rumer Godden's The Diddakoi (albeit that I do find it almost a bit too fairytale like and magical to be a totally realistic conclusion, kind of like a happily-ever-after tale with Kizzy basically getting the best of both the Romany and the non Romany worlds), I do have to admit that the lack of official consequences for the bullying group of village schoolgirls who not only were viciously harassing Kizzy but also were so physically rough and violent towards her on one occasion that they knocked her unconscious and might even have killed her had there not been adults who interfered, this does leave me seeing a bit of the proverbial red. For what Kizzy has to endure for much of The Diddakoi, that is in no way just children playing rough-house or children having differences of opinion etc., but a clear case of dangerously active, nasty group bullying and harassment (and indeed, in my opinion, those girls and especially ringleader Prudence Cuthbert should have faced serious and perhaps even criminal consequences and indeed, at the very least, the parents of the participating bullies should all have been publicly and officially notified about what had transpired and not to have had the entire sorry episode rather hushed up and swept under the carpet by the school principal Mr. Fraser). Combined with the fact that I also have found it rather problematic at best that after the horrible level of bullying which Kizzy experiences at school is clearly shown in full horror and colour, that even always oh so empathetic and sympathetic Miss Brooks seems to actually think and believe that Kizzy should be inviting her tormentors over for tea and for company, that somehow Kizzy should be making the first moves towards reconciliation even though, even when it clearly is presented by Rumer Godden that Kizzy is ONLY being harassed and mercilessly picked on and bullied by the village girls because of her ethnicity (because she is part Gipsy) and her Romany culture and beliefs, I really cannot consider more than three stars for The Diddakoi as yes, that type of belief and suggestions about how to deal with bullying and the fact that there is in my opinion also rather a bit of both overt and sly victim blaming in The Diddakoi, this does quite infuriate me and rub me the wrong proverbial way. (hide spoiler)]

Winterbound (from the city to the country and having to face a New England winter without their parents, father is a researcher, mother is away taking care of a sick relative)

(view spoiler)[I am most definitely more than pleasantly surprised at how much I have absolutely loved (and not simply enjoyed) Margery Williams Bianco's Winterbound (and I have also just reread the novel for something like the fifth time, and once again, pure and utter sweet reading delight).

And yes indeed, Margery Williams Bianco's characterisation, the cadence, thematics etc. actually tend to remind me rather strongly of L.M. Montgomery and especially Kay and Garry (Margaret) are reminiscent of some of the former's strong female characters (Anne Shirley, Emily Byrd Starr and Sara Stanley do come to mind); but even Bianco's supporting characters are nuanced and generally well if not even perfectly well conceptualised. However, I believe that the main reason why I just adore Winterbound so much is precisely because it tells a nicely sweet and warm family story, and one where there does not need to be constant action in order to move along the plot, the narrative, and even in order to show both conflict and resolutions (much of the fiction of Lucy Maud Montgomery is also like this, also shows this very tendency, and that obvious similarity is what is endearing Winterbound to me so strongly and so lastingly). And of course for those who happen to know me and who are aware of my reading preferences and habits, if I claim that a children's or young adult novel positively reminds me of L.M. Montgomery, this is probably the absolutely highest praise I can in any way or manner grant.

Furthermore and another reason for my intense and total enjoyment of Winterbound, while certain perhaps dated ideas do of course and by mere necessity of place and time exist, these are not overt (and never ever nasty or grating). For instance, it might not be all that politically correct for the African American maids who are employed at the local resorts and hotels to be called "coloured" but guess what, that was the way African Americans were generally referred to in the 1930s, and it is in my opinion rather majorly and appreciatively avant-garde and progressive that Edna gives them (the African American maids) free taxi rides to town (although she also has to unfortunately keep mum about this in the presence of her "old ladies" who of course would freak out if they knew that African American hotel maids were also using Edna's taxi).

But I guess I should (my absolute love of Winterbound notwithstanding) warn potential readers that hunting (and rather specifically fox hunting) is repeatedly depicted and presented. However, while hunting is described, and also to a point condoned, Neal (the main "hunter" in Winterbound) actually seems very responsible and Garry herself is actually quite against hunting altogether (but hunting for foxes, and selling their pelts, while repugnant to many of us perhaps, also makes a world of difference financially-wise to a struggling family like the Rowes). And what I do find both heartening and of much social and historic interest is that Margery Williams' Winterbound is one of the earliest children's books I have read to date that presents the difference between responsible and irresponsible hunting behaviour (for example, it is pointed out that is is better to have a black or a yellow cat because a tabby coloured cat can often end up shot due to the fact that many hunters just shoot at anything that moves, something that Neal certainly does NOT do and strongly and very vocally criticises).

And finally, while Winterbound is of course a novel written during the Depression era, it fortunately and happily is for all intents and purposes a positive and uplifting story, so very much unlike and different from the doom and gloom historical fiction children's books about the Depression that seem to be all the rage nowadays (and I am talking about recent historical children's literature offerings about the Depression era). Maybe we should consider that while the Depression might have been an era of want and poverty, it was perhaps not automatically an era of universal pain and cynicism (and that poverty was perhaps not always abjectly horrible either). And really, my only and very minor (insignificant) personal complaint, is that Winterbound is simply much too short for me, and that there are no sequels. For yes, I definitely wanted more, and I still want more. Very very warmly and highly recommended, and not just for children either! (hide spoiler)]

Growing Up Ivy

(view spoiler)[Using a delightfully engaging as well as realistically educational (read historically accurate) combination of both showing and telling (and a wonderful sense of time and place), in Growing Up Ivy author Peggy Dymond Leavey describes with the often minute but also never dragging or tediously presented historical and cultural details of Depression-era Toronto (Ontario) how main protagonist Ivy Chalmer's mother Frances (Frannie) acts and reacts to life and its challenges, but also (and importantly) how she considers herself first and foremost an actress and that everything else, including her daughter Ivy and her welfare are sadly pretty obviously secondary to Frannie's career, to her finding employment (and lasting joy) as an actress (and at the beginning of Growing Up Ivy, that annoyingly means simply Frances Chalmers abandoning her daughter to run off and try to find fame in New York City).

But interestingly enough, while throughout Growing Up Ivy (and yes indeed right from the beginning of the plot when Frannie simply takes off to New York City and tells her daughter in a letter that Ivy is supposed to go and find her paternal grandmother and live with her), we as readers are always given more than enough textual information by the author to know and realise without a doubt that Frances Chalmers has truly cast away her daughter Ivy once and for all in order to become an actress, for Ivy herself, it actually does take almost the entire novel for her to finally and totally accept her mother for what she is and that her acting career will obviously always be more important to her than her daughter, than Ivy's life, welfare, her desires, accomplishments etc. (and yes indeed, while reading Growing Up Ivy, I did very often want to majorly shake some common sense into Ivy and to force her to listen to Grandmother Chalmers' more than reasonable and realistic claims that her mother had abandoned her and was not coming back, not to mention that I also have found how Frannie's best and oldest friend Gloria Klein kept stringing Ivy along and saying that her mother just needed more time frustratingly angering and basically just keeping Ivy's vain hopes alive that her mother would come back for her, even though she obviously never had any intention of doing so).

But even with the negativity of Ivy being abandoned by her mother for an acting career (and how long it does seem to take Ivy to accept and realise this), I have for the most part found Growing Up Ivy a delightful, engaging and enlightening reading experience (with my favourite parts of the novel probably being the months that Ivy spends on the road with her peddler father, and how her grandmother keeps encouraging Ivy's writing and her wish to become a writer by keeping her supplied with both pencils and paper). And the only reason that I am not quite ready to consider four stars for Growing Up Ivy is that while most of the novel flows naturally and is interconnected in a reasonable fashion (from chapter to chapter), the sections concerning Charlie Bayliss (and especially the backstory of him being Ivy's father's stepson) do feel a trifle tacked on and appearing "boom" out of nowhere. For indeed and perosnally, I would rather be seeing Charlie Bayliss as a character in Growing Up Ivy simply present himself as a potential friend and later love interest for Ivy Chalmers than to have him tied to her family and her life through her father and his first marriage (as yes, this certainly does feel a bit personally distracting and jolting and kind of even tends to sporadically take me out of Peggy Dymond Leavey's otherwise so wonderful and engaging narrative and it certainly has rather lessened some of my reading pleasure with regard to Growing Up Ivy). (hide spoiler)]

All's Faire in Middle School (protagonist going to middle school after being home-schooled)

(view spoiler)[Although for years I had tended to majorly shy away from graphic novels as legitimate stories in and of themselves, I am definitely and certainly slowly being lured into their proverbial camp and yes, especially with regard to graphic novels for so-called middle grade readers (for ages nine to probably around twelve or thirteen). And indeed, for the most part, Victoria Jamieson's All's Faire in Middle School has once again proven to be yet another graphic novel reading joy (with Jamieson's engaging text and her brightly fun but still realistic accompanying artwork, perhaps a bit cartoony for my general aesthetic tastes, but working very well indeed in conjunction with the presented narrative and storyline) albeit also with a few personal but certainly very much annoying and textually frustrating issues with especially main protagonist Imogene's nuclear family.

For while I have definitely enjoyed the Renaissance Faire scenario and setting of All's Faire in Middle School, to be honest, I have absolutely NOT LIKED either Imogene's mother or her little brother Felix all that much, in particular how Felix is basically in my opinion coddled and constantly favoured over his older sister and how his needs and his temper tantrums always seem to count more than Imogene's wants and desires (and while of course Imogene should NOT have thrown Felix's treasured stuffed squirrel Tiffany into the pond, I can actually and from personal experience totally understand and appreciate why his sister acts, why Imogene behaves in the way she has, for her parents really do not at all seem to understand and get how much of a pain in the behind Felix can often be and also just assume that Imogene will gladly always babysit and keep Felix out of trouble).

Combined with the pre-teen drama of Imogene starting middle school with its maze of friendships lost and found, with its cliques and bullies (after having been homeschooled since grade one) and which I have all found very much relatable but also rather exaggerated by Victoria Jamieson at times (and indeed, that Mika, that the main bully never gets to experience any consequences for her nasty behaviour, while this is of course realistic and sadly so, it also has made me cringe and growl, in particular because Imogene is the only person being punished and that even her mother seems to be too strangely dense and absorbed in her Renaissance Faire life and the obvious apple of her eye Felix to even begin to notice this), while All's Faire in Middle School has certainly been enjoyable and also very much hitting close to home for me in many ways, that very hitting so close to home with regard to Imogene obviously often getting the short end of the stick so to speak (and yes, I do well understand that she has also behaved atrociously and in particular towards Anita), I do have to admit that while I have found All's Faire in Middle School generally a wonderful and delightful reading experience, I still cannot really give a higher ranking than three stars (although I do warmly recommend All's Faire in Middle School for all that). (hide spoiler)]

R My Name Is Rachel

(view spoiler)[Well and indeed this novel's intense realism and that the pressures and the socioeconomic consequences of the Depression are presented with both pathos and a sense of understated humanity truly are R My Name is Rachel's strongest points. And yet Patricia Reilly Griff does paint a subtle portrait, presenting the harshness of Rachel and her family's existence whilst also not exaggerating, whilst also tempering negativity with hope and optimism (that Rachel and her siblings are home alone because the father must somehow find work and the only work to be had is road construction near the Canadian border, that food and money are getting ever more scarce, but that the family is also lucky in so far that fishing is plentiful for brother Joey, and that there are people willing to help out as much as they themselves can). And while I do find the entire Miss Mitzi scenario a bit tacked on and not all that well incorporated into the text, into the plot line, it does lead to an emotional and sweet ending (a predictable but satisfying conclusion that is definitely suitable for the intended age group).

That being said, I do wish that the often intense and nasty sibling rivalry between Rachel and Cassie had been a bit more clearly structured and explained. I know that R My Name is Rachel is presented from Rachel's point of view and in Rachel's voice, so I guess we are generally only reading, only being cognicant of her side of the arguments, but still, the squabbles, the frictions between her and younger sister Cassie often seem rather thrown together at random, with background reasons and developments that appear awkward and almost painfully deliberate (at times bordeing on the artifical). And this salient fact actually leads to my main personal issue with this novel, namely that Patricia Reilly Griff's textual stylistics leave (at least for me) a bit to be desired. The general flow of the narrative has the unfortunate tendency to at times vacillate between being somewhat dragging, monotonous and then in turn suddenly presenting scenarios and events that seem to just and almost literally materialise out of nowhere, jumping from one episode to another at seemigly random (with transitions I find distracting, even frustrating).

And thus, while I do strongly believe that R My Name is Rachel is generally an engaging, evocative and informative read (especially for preteen girls from around ages nine to twelve), issues with textual stylistics, with general narrative flow, prevent it from being and likely ever becoming a personal favourite, remaining a mildly enjoyable three star novel (one that works well for a one or perhaps two time perusal, but is definitely not memorable enough for multiple, for repeated rereads). (hide spoiler)]

Blue Willow

(view spoiler)[Truth be told, for a middle grade novel original published immediately or at least pretty soon after the Great Depression (and on which Blue Willow is thematically based) Dorothy Gates' Newbery Honour winning story of hardship, struggle, family perseverance and triumph over the odds reads surprisingly modern (presenting, featuring exceedingly well developed, finely nuanced, both internally and externally rich and intensely realistic both main and supportive characters and with even chief villain Bounce Reyburn appearing as not just typecast and cardboard-like) and with an emotionality of feeling that flows deeply, touchingly and above all believably, realistically. And although Blue Willow does indeed finish up with a very much and perhaps even overly sweet optimism and positivity, it still to and for me presents a believable enough conclusion in so far that while Janey Larkin and her parents have now found a good and worthwhile job opportunity for the father, rest and recovery for the exhausted and often sickly mother and even an actual home so that Janey's treasured Blue Willow plate can and will now be prominently featured and displayed, it is also not a sudden and total reversal of fortunes either, it is not as though the Larkins have for example suddenly become very wealthy and famous, but simply that things are looking up a bit for Janey, her father and her step-mother (that they have finally found a bit of good fortune and ease, that the sweetness and grace promised by Janey's Blue Willow plate and what it symbolises has begun to at least somewhat happen and come to fruition).

Four shining stars for Blue Willow (but rounded up to a very much appreciated five stars with regard to my own personal reading pleasure and enjoyment). For even though there are perhaps some minor issues with time and place oriented and gender stratification scenarios present, I for one oh so much do appreciate especially how with a total lack of paternalism and euro-centric superiority, Doris Gates has managed to describe and depict the Larkins' Mexican American neighbours, the Romeros (something that has made me totally and utterly smile with appreciation and delight, as even in many very much more modern and recent, current novels, it is sadly still often the case that euro-centricity and cloying patronising paternalism seem to reign supreme at times in particular with regard to how ethnic minorities such as for example Hispanic Americans are often depicted and I do absolutely and totally heartfully love and appreciate how in Blue Willow, how in a children's novel originally published in 1940, this has thankfully and wonderful NOT at all been the case, in my opinion). (hide spoiler)]

The Velvet Room

(view spoiler)[Oh my, I would have so much loved Zilpha Keatley Snyder's 1965 Great Depression themed novel The Velvet Room as a child (or even as a young teenager). For indeed, Robin really speaks to me, with her feelings of not really fitting in with her family, with her needing to get away to think, to read, to recharge (and while I certainly very quickly figured out Bridget's secret, again, if I had read The Velvet Room at a young age, I would most likely not so rapidly have guessed that Bridget was in fact Bonita and, yes, I might even have been clueless and naive enough to have actually been enchantingly surprised by the revelation).

Now with regard to the ending of The Velvet Room, while I guess that it is in a way an absolute case of "happily ever after" and total fairy tale like wish fulfillment (especially since with the father being offered a dream job opportunity by Mr. McCurdy that is right up his proverbial alley so to speak as custodian and watchman for the museum at the to be renovated Palmeras House, Robin, although she did finally make the supremely difficult decision not to stay with Gwen McCurdy and to accompany her family to her uncle's store, really now has the best of both worlds, her family, Gwen, and indeed Palmeras House, including her beloved library in the Velvet Room), I do have to readily admit that I have both absolutely enjoyed and majorly appreciated said happy ending, for I was (personally and emotionally) more than a bit annoyed and upset that Robin did end up deciding to go with her family and not stay with the McCurdys when this was offered (as I certainly did not and still do not think that especially Robin's mother always really takes enough time to truly understand and appreciate her daughter, that while she obviously loves Robin, I do tend to feel that something is at times missing, that there is not enough understanding and acceptance). Four stars for The Velvet Room (but rounded down to a high three star ranking, as while I have most definitely and truly found the novel readable, emotionally satisfying and as mentioned above that I would have actually been completely over the proverbial moon with regard to The Velvet Room as a child or teenager, as an older and more critical adult reader, how Zilpha Keatley Snyder depicts Robin's Mexican neighbours with their broken accent-heavy English and massive suspicions and superstitions does definitely make me cringe a bit and rub me the wrong way). (hide spoiler)]

Great topic! I hope to add some books soon. Right off the top of my head, Trouble at the Tangerine, a middle grade novel.

Four stars from me, but my kids LOVED it, so I'm giving five stars. I really was pleasantly surprised by it and we really enjoyed it as a family read-aloud, the kids kept asking for more chapters and when could we read "the Simon book" again! :-)

Contemporary middle-grade is sometimes a bit too angsty for me, but this one was just-right. Simon struggles with the nomadic lifestyle his parents have chosen for the family and wants to set down roots. I really appreciate, though, that he doesn't hate his parents and they aren't obnoxiously clueless. His mom is even being more conscientious of what she posts about Simon on the family's blog, The Hydes Go Seek, but Simon still feels uncomfortable that the blog only shows the sunny side of life and that his parents can't see how much he wants to stay in one place and make some lasting friendships. He really hopes that their apartment at the Tangerine Pines will become a long-term home and he sets about making everything about the town seem super awesome. But, when some burglaries start occurring in the building, his parents really don't seem comfortable with sticking around for long. If only Simon could get to the bottom of what's happening!

The sleuthing is well-done for a modern middle grade. Simon goes around by himself a bit more than I would personally be comfortable with for my own kids if I was new to an area and didn't really know the neighbors well, but the parents do keep tabs on him and there are curfews and such he needs to follow and he's generally trying to be a really "good kid" and not break any rules or do anything questionable. The cast of supporting characters is interesting and diverse--and I loved the animals, too. I guessed one of the big "reveals" and also the main mystery pretty easily, but the target audience might be more surprised, especially if they haven't read a lot of mysteries before. For me, the story was more character-driven than mystery-driven, but that isn't a complaint.

Overall, a pleasure to read and to share with my kids and we hope this will become a series. It would be great to see Simon solve some more mysteries.

Kathryn wrote: "Great topic! I hope to add some books soon. Right off the top of my head, Trouble at the Tangerine, a middle grade novel.

Four stars from me, but my kids LOVED it, so I'm giving f..."

I will add this, it looks great. Now one thing that I have noticed while researching the topic on Open Library is that so so often, the moves and relocations described in the synopses happen because of majorly traumatic events (like death, divorce, serious illness, poverty, clueless parents etc.).

And therefore, I am hoping to also find novels which will have less dramatics, as not all moves happen due to huge and massive trauma and major issues but that this does of course not mean moves and relocations without attached trauma will automatically be easy and with no homesickness and adjustment woes for children (for everyone).

Manybooks wrote: "Train I Ride..."

I gave this four stars, So original & therefore thought-provoking, I still remember. See my review for more.

Manybooks wrote: "The Velvet Room
..."

I actually did. I read it several times, and was able to appreciate it all over again as an adult.

Kathryn wrote: "Great topic! I hope to add some books soon. Right off the top of my head, Trouble at the Tangerine, a middle grade novel.

Four stars from me, but my kids LOVED it, so I'm giving five..."

I'll definitely have to find this, based on your kids' reactions alone! :)

Cheryl wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Train I Ride..."

I gave this four stars, So original & therefore thought-provoking, I still remember. See my review for more."

I was really surprised how much I enjoyed Train I Ride.

Simon Sort of Says

This story was a wonderful fusion of the hilarious with sobering reality. I was guffawing at scenes featuring a beer-drinking dog, the Jesus squirrel, the corpse on a road trip, Pretty Stabby the peacock, and more. Then there was the sobering reality of Simon (and his parents) having to deal with the aftermath of his trauma. The author skillfully wove all these different threads together to make a story that readers old and young alike will enjoy.
The reason this book belongs in this thread is because Simon's family had to move to a new location after a traumatic incident at Simon's school. They move to the National Quiet Zone where no internet is allowed, so that Simon will not be bombarded with reminders of the incident.
This book was a 2024 Newbery Honor book.

Beverly wrote: "Simon Sort of Says

This story was a wonderful fusion of the hilarious with sobering reality. I was guffawing at scenes featuring a beer-drink..."

Thanks for reminding me that this book is on my to-read list (my list is so long, I often forget which books are on the list).

Murphy and Mousetrap

Found this on Open Library, and really enjoyed reading how Murphy through soccer ends up adjusting to his new home and making friends (and that the book shows how moving can be traumatic and a culture shock even without immigration). Highly recommended, and in my opinion Sylvia Olsen should probably be considered at least an honorary OwnVoices author.

(view spoiler)[Canadian author Sylvia Olsen was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, married into the Tsartlip First Nation at the age of seventeen and has subsequently lived on the Tsartlip reserve lands (Saanich, British Columbia) raising her four children there (with three of Olsen's children being part Coast Salish and the fourth a Brazilian who was adopted at the age of thirteen). Thus, while Sylvia Olsen is technically speaking not an OwnVoices author, for me and because her First Nations themed writings have generally been positively received and reviewed by Native American/Canadian scholars and activists such as Debbie Reese and Beverly Slapin, I do kind of feel like one should probably consider Sylvia Olsen as an honorary OwnVoices writer, and that with her life story and her marriage Olsen in my opinion also textually understands and is familiar with not just First Nations but also and specifically with issues encountered and experienced by children who are part First Nations, and which is thematically and contents wise clearly and engagingly shown with and in her 2005 middle grade novel Murphy and Mousetrap (but just to point out before starting my actual review for Murphy and Mousetrap that unlike how the novel is shelved at Open Library, no, Murphy and Mousetrap is not about a Métis child, since the latter description and term really only pertains to individuals of French Canadian and First Nations ancestry and which is most definitely not the case regarding Sylvia Olsen's Murphy Jones).

So in Murphy and Mousetrap, Olsen shows how Murphy Jones is a nine-year-old boy who lives a quietly contented and also pretty sedate and undramatic life with his single mother and his cat Mousetrap in a British Columbia city (not specifically named, but in my opinion likely Victoria since it is clearly shown that Murphy and Mousetrap takes place on Vancouver Island), with Murphy's mother being Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations and Murphy's father being Caucasian (and someone whom Murphy has actually never met, and that yes, we as readers of Murphy and Mousetrap also never learn all that much about the main protagonist's father either except that he lives in another Canadian province and that Murphy's easily sunburned skin colour, blue eyes and blondish hair are genetic inheritances from his father, as well as his first name, although Murphy of course also physically very much resembles his First Nations mother), how Murphy’s life of going to school, collecting rocks, spending time on his computer and playing hide and seek with Mousetrap, with his cat is interrupted and comes to a caesura when at the beginning of Murphy and Mousetrap his mother announces that she has accepted a new job that will bring a move back to where she is from and where she grew up, back to the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations reserve (and which is located near Port Alberni, British Columbia).

And Murphy and Mousetrap really nicely and realistically relates the experiences of both Murphy and Mousetrap (and to a point the mother as well) adjusting to their new home in Grandma’s basement (on the reserve), with one of Murphy’s biggest concerns being how his indoor and urban cat will adjust to a much rougher, often outdoor and muddy existence on the reserve, something with which Mousetrap actually has no issues at all and that Murphy's worries regarding his cat kind of pale in comparison to his own much more reluctant and even recalcitrant acceptance of his new home, how Murphy for much of Murhy and Mousetrap is shown by Sylvia Olsen as feeling that the move to the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations reserve has been positive and good for both his mother and equally so for Mousetrap but not so much for himself. But when Murphy is challenged to join the other boys on the soccer field and proves himself a talented goaltender, just like Mousetrap adjusts to a new lifestyle of roaming free on the reserve with the other cats, Murphy eventually also becomes accustomed to life on the reserve, finds acceptance and respect amongst the other (and at first rather negatively inclined towards Murphy) boys of the reserve through his involvement in soccer (although I do find it just a trifle strange and a wee bit frustrating that Murphy and Mousetrap basically features no girls, that aside from Murphy's mother and grandmother, all or at least most of the actively participating in the story of Murphy and Mousetrap characters seem to be male).

Now with regard to the thematics of moving, of relocating to a different place, Sylvia Olsen with Murphy and Mousetrap realistically but also without being overly dramatic conveys the negative perceptions, the emotional turmoil children relocating to a new community often if not even generally can feel, can experience, and that yes, even though Murphy is in fact not immigrating to a different country in Murphy and Mousetrap (and actually remains in British Columbia), his issues fitting in and being accepted on and by the reserve are indeed and in my opinion (and speaking as an immigrant myself) pretty similar to what immigration is or can be, can engender. For Murphy (even though he is part First Nations) also sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb on the reserve (having as mentioned above inherited his father’s blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin) and that he looking "too Caucasian" combined with being the new kid cause Murphy to become the brunt of bullying (but that said bullying is finally rendered moot when the originally nasty action in Murphy and Mousetrap of making Murphy the goalie during the boys' soccer games turns out to be a blessing and shows that by the end of Murphy and Mousetrap Murphy is seen and accepted as a talented goalie, a valuable teammate, a potential friend and no longer considered to be an interloper.

A fun, engaging and uplifting story is Murphy and Mousetrap (and with Darlene Gait's accompanying pencil illustrations providing a delightful visual complement to and for what Sylvia Olsen is textually presenting but without becoming overwhelming and/or overtaking the featured text). And yes, aside from Murphy and Mousetrap providing an in my opinion superb narrative in and of itself with some wonderful and important messages, Murphy and Mousetrap is also an excellent textual tool for introducing middle grade readers to life on a First Nation reserve with Olsen describing a landscape where all the houses around Grandma’s place belong to Murphy’s many aunts and uncles, with no apartment buildings, no gas stations, no streetlights, no McDonalds and not even a school close by, and with common misconceptions and stereotypes regarding Indian reserves being accessibly challenged by Olsen having nuanced characters with a strong sense of community and family, and with even the children who at first bully Murphy soon realising that he is an asset to their community and to their soccer team (and not to mention that I really do appreciate that in Murphy and Mousetrap, soccer is the game of choice and that Sylvia Olsen does not automatically and stereotypically make everyone play lacrosse). (hide spoiler)]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Manybooks wrote: "And therefore, I am hoping to also find novels which will have less dramatics, as not all moves happen due to huge and massive trauma and major issues but that this does of course not mean moves and relocations without attached trauma will automatically be easy and with no homesickness and adjustment woes for children (for everyone)"

Yes, absolutely. That is so true! And, in this case, the parents really thought they were doing something cool and fun for the family with the nomadic lifestyle and I appreciate that the story does show there was value to that family togetherness and all the new experiences, but also doesn't undermine the son's feeling about wanting to put down roots. I hope I haven't talked it up too much as I went into it with pretty much zero expectations, but I hope you (and Cheryl!) like it if you decide to give it a try.

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "And therefore, I am hoping to also find novels which will have less dramatics, as not all moves happen due to huge and massive trauma and major issues but that this does of course..."

The book does look like something I might enjoy.

To refresh my memory, the book we're discussing atm is Trouble at the Tangerine. :)

Cheryl wrote: "To refresh my memory, the book we're discussing atm is Trouble at the Tangerine. :)"

Yup, not available at the library for me, but with Kathryn’s high rating and glowing review, am going to see if my local independent bookstore can order me a copy.

Although I am still planning on reading Joseph Bruchac's Eagle Song (which is available on Open Library), I do find it a bit unsettling that many Abenaki elders actually call Bruchac's claims of being Abenaki into question.

https://www.timesunion.com/churchill/...

Right. Dr. Reese doesn't recommend him, either. I appreciate the wording about his ancestry on his GR webpage, though.

Cheryl wrote: "Right. Dr. Reese doesn't recommend him, either. I appreciate the wording about his ancestry on his GR webpage, though."

I am kind of torn myself, as from what I have read Bruchac shows and admits he has Abenaki, English and Slovakian ancestry and has never claimed to be entirely Abenaki. And why does Debbie Reese consider Joseph Bruchac an issue while Louise Erdrich’s Native American and German background is not?

It's a dilemma! I think it may be that Bruchac used to exaggerate his Abenaki roots. But I don't know.

Meet Julie

In 1974, (actually more like 1975) Julie's parents divorce and Julie, her older sister Tracy and their mom move across San Francisco to an apartment while Dad and Julie's pet rabbit stay behind in their house. Julie's best friend Ivy lives near the old house. Julie has to adjust to a new school. At her old school she played basketball and the new school doesn't have a girl's team. Her sister tells her about Title IX, it was in the newspaper so Julie gets to work trying to get on a new basketball team.

Julie and the Blue Guitar: American Girl Mysteries Across Time
Today, Emma and her dad have just moved to San Francisco. She's nervous about starting school in the middle of the year when all the kids know each other. She discovers Julie's diary and works on tracking down the identity of the diary owner and whether Julie is still in San Francisco. Her research takes her to the library where she meets a girl her own age and navigates the confusing awkwardness of trying to impress a new friend and feeling weird.

Julie's not my favorite character but her stories fit the topic. Divorce is tough on kids and moving isn't easy in any time. I think Julie's first book handles the move nicely but then Julie adjusts and everything is status quo. The Julie stories also cover how her friend Ivy feels about Julie moving away to a new neighborhood and making new friends and finding a new passion. The AG stories always have friend drama!

Emma Moves In (American Girl: Like Sisters #1)
This series features cousins who live in a multigenerational, multi-ethnic household. It features the usual school, friend, activity, family dramas of tween lit. I liked the series well enough but they never made dolls so it didn't catch on.

The Babysitters Club series has a couple of moves. Stacey moves from New York to Connecticut and back and back again. I believe Jessie's family is new to the neighborhood and one of the only Black families in Stonybrook. Dawn moves from California to Conn. and back. Kristy's mom marries Watson and they move to his house in a different neighborhood and Kristy feels uncomfortable with the wealthier lifestyle. The same exact theme is in Corinne.

Sweet Home Alaska
Set during the Depression in a little known community of farmers in Alaska, the protagonist, eleven-year-old Terpsichore, sees it as a grand adventure like Little House on the Prairie, her favorite book. Not everyone sees it that way and her mother has a hard time adjusting.

Everyone loved Amelia's Notebook series in the 90s. They're early graphic novels about a 9-year-old girl navigating a move, new school and family drama, all in the form of her journal.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Sweet Home Alaska
Set during the Depression in a little known community of farmers in Alaska, the protagonist, eleven-year-old Terpsichore, sees it as a grand adventure like Little ..."

It is interesting that in Sweet Home Alaska, like in Little House on the Prairie, the respective mothers both have the hardest time adjusting (and perhaps also Mary in Little House on the Prairie but she is often an extension of Ma Ingalls whilst Laura is an extension of Pa Ingalls). I think that moving house novels often feature mothers as having hard times adjusting (at least when they are not the ones precipitating the moving) because they are often either housebound or must juggle jobs and being housewives, neighbours etc. (and also newbies) whilst fathers are often just at work and therefore also often a trifle removed.

Eagle Song

Much too on the surface and with stereotypical stock characters for everyone (heroes and villains), a story of a young Mohawk relocating from Vermont to Brooklyn (with culture shock and bullying) that should have been right up my alley so to speak but ended up mostly a pretty harsh reading disappointment.

(view spoiler)[Just to say that I generally tend to both like and appreciate Joseph Bruchac's Native American themed picture books, even though there has recently been a bit of controversy surrounding whether Bruchac is truly Abenaki. But indeed, from what I have read online, it does appear as though Joseph Bruchac has always readily admitted that his background is Abenaki, English and Slovakian, and thus I personally do not really understand why quite a number of Native American activists and scholars are suddenly so totally and categorically against Bruchac and are even accusing him of being a so-called Pretendindian appropriating Abenaki stories and culture, when in my opinion it sure looks like Joseph Bruchac has never claimed to be only, to be solely Abenaki but only ever partially so.

However, although I personally thus still consider Bruchac to be (at least partially) an OwnVoices author, I also do very readily and with considerable frustration admit (and in particular for my inner child) that Eagle Feather, that Joseph Bruchac's 1997 middle grade chapter book of a young Mohawk boy transplanted to Brooklyn from his Vermont reserve bordering the St. Lawrence Seaway and leaving young Danny Bigtree feeling homesick, culture shock as well as experiencing ethnic based bullying (and which really should be speaking to me emotionally since Danny's experiences at school with that relentless bullying kind of mirror my own encounters with nasty classmates in grade four as an immigrant from Germany to Canada, except that while Danny Bigtree is being called Indian Chief etc. I was being called a Nazi and Adolf Hitler's daughter) has been pretty much a total and utter reading disappointment.

For yes indeed (and both my inner child and my older adult reading self jointly very much agree here), albeit Eagle Feather thematically comes from a solid and important thematic narrational premise and place, the presented text, the featured story is unfortunately simply and sadly hugely and annoyingly textually overstuffed by Bruchac with far too many plot-lines, with overtly didactic lectures against violence/bullying as well as with textbook-like (read tediously preachy and didactic) Native American cultural information (and that Eagle Feather has even with its short length of less than one hundred pages been a dragging and horribly uninteresting, snail-paced reading experience for me, and also one with aggravating distractions since Joseph Bruchac has so many often not at all smoothly shown and connected textual bits and pieces incorporated into Eagle Feather so that Danny Bigtree's story actually often kind of gets lost a bit and that readers cannot really be moved by a tale that pulls them in so many different directions and often kind of at once, at the same time.

And combined with the fact that NONE of Joseph Bruchac's characters for Eagle Feather show (at least to and for me) ANY textual depth, ANY development whatsoever, that everyone is one-dimensional, on the surface, woefully stereotypical (and objects of and imbued with hugely heavy-handed didacticism), not to mention that chief bully Tyrone's transformation from Danny Bigtree's main nemesis to Danny's potential friend happens too much out of the proverbial blue and so quickly so as to be pretty ridiculously unbelievable and fairy-tale like, sorry, but my rating for Eagle Feather can and will only be two stars (and while what Joseph Bruchac has penned in Eagle Feather is of course not anything horrible and problematic in and of itself, and also comes from very decent and even to be lauded and celebrated author intentions, well and sadly most definitely, Bruchac's text for Eagle Feather is simply, is totally too too on the surface and hugely lacking any type of nuance for me to even remotely want to consider a higher star rating). (hide spoiler)]

Too bad that Bruchac's story turned out to be such a klunker.

Cheryl wrote: "Too bad that Bruchac's story turned out to be such a klunker."

Yeah, the premise was alright but the story itself was really boring, on the surface and one-dimensional. And I have generally enjoyed Joseph Bruchac's picture books much more than his chapter books and novels.

Manybooks wrote: "CMuch too on the surface and with stereotypical stock characters for everyone (heroes and villains), a story of a young Mohawk relocating from Vermont to Brooklyn (with culture shock and bullying) that should have been right up my alley so to speak but ended up mostly a pretty harsh reading disappointment...."

I got a new picture book from the library you might like. I haven't read it yet. It's in the pile for tonight or tomorrow. Being Home
#OwnVoices Cherokee author (enrolled tribal member) and Native Alaskan (Tlingit) illustrator.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "CMuch too on the surface and with stereotypical stock characters for everyone (heroes and villains), a story of a young Mohawk relocating from Vermont to Brooklyn (with culture sh..."

Thanks, this does look good (and it is nice to also have books where children are positive and excited about moving).

If you would consider books about children being evacuated from British cities into the countryside during World War 2, then there are:

Carrie's War
Wave Me Goodbye
Goodnight Mister Tom
Visitors from London
When the Sirens Wailed

These all concern children evacuated into the British countryside.

The Sky Is Falling, Looking at the Moon and The Lights Go On Again by Kit Pearson are about English children evacuated to Canada.

Len wrote: "If you would consider books about children being evacuated from British cities into the countryside during World War 2, then there are:

Carrie's War
Wave Me Goodbye
[..."

Nice list, thanks.
And don't forget the Narnia series. :)