Oh, to visit Rome someday. I hope so. It'd be AWESOME. Anyways, on to the book!
Ava & Pip
Carol Weston
216 Pages, Reading Time: 4 hours.
Inside cover reads: Meet outgoing Ava Wren, a fun fifth grader who tries not to lose patience with her shy big sister. When Pip's 13th birthday party turns into a disaster, Ava gets a story idea for a library contest. But uh-oh, Ava should never have written "Sting of the Queen Bee." Can Ava and her new friend help Pip come out of her shell? And can Ava get out of the mess she has made?
Initial Reaction: I liked this book. It's cute. It's not very challenging, but it's cute. The main character and her family are a bunch of word nerds, so it kind of hit me in the soft-spot. In fact, they call themselves word nerds and play a game where they try to come up with expressions that are palindromes. Ava also sneaks in some literary terms that she's learning in school, like metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, and consonance. Love it. Ava is a typical sanguine 5th grader, and her older sister, Pip, is straight-up melancholic. Throughout the story, we learn, through Ava's diary, that she wants to help her older sister "come out of her shell." This annoys me at length because I'm an introvert, and it really exhausts me to be extroverted, and I hate it when people expect me to be extroverted.
Ava gets advice from one of Pip's classmates and gives her 5 pointers to help "bring her out of her shell:"
Week 1: Smile at one new person every day.
Week 2: Every tie you see your reflection, tell yourself, "you are totally awesome!"
Week 3: Say Hi to someone new every day, kid or grown-up.
Week 4: Compliment one person every day- on anything at all.
Week 5: Ask someone a question every day. Listen to the answer.
While I think that all of these pointers are good for any kid, even shy ones, there was a little too much about enabling "social issues" in this book. Kids shouldn't really be concerned about whether or not their siblings have social issues and how to fix them. If a kid is shy, telling them that they need to come out of their shell or to be extroverted is just plain nonsense. Society constantly screams at us that we have to be extroverted or we won't be successful, happy, or popular. Absolute nonsense. Check out this webpage, and click on any of the introverted personality types, and they'll give you a list of successful people (Gandalf is my personality type, as well as St. Thomas Aquinas!). In fact, in order to BE successful, introverts often need the OPPOSITE of what extroverts need.
Some excellent reading material:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/302696/
And this handy chart:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/understanding-introverts-_n_5989656.html
A few times in the book, Ava and Bea (Pip's classmate) complain that Pip has no friends because people think she's mean. I think that this is an important lesson in how others can perceive introverts to be unfriendly, but they're really not being unfriendly. They're simply lost in their thoughts and not concerned about social pleasantries and small talk. This type of thing just perpetuates the idea that "introverts will never be enough." We're teaching introverts how to be extroverts, but why the hell aren't we teaching extroverts the ways of the introvert? Seems a tad bit hypocritical.
On the other parenting hand, if a child is shy, I think that they should at least display manners and kindness, and gratitude, know how to speak to others (their peers as well as adults), and hold a conversation about things. Parents shouldn't enable their child's silence or rudeness by dismissing it as "social issues." That's how full-fledged social phobias and anxieties start- with the dismissive, enabling attitude of lazy parents.
Promote Virtue? Yes. While Ava's family is far from perfect, they each strive to do what is best for one another. Ava does screw up a few times and publishes a "mean" story about Bea, but she comes clean, apologizes, and she and Bea team up to help Pip. The love of language is very apparent, which I love. Ava wants to tell the truth, but is also pretty filtered for a 5th grader. We get to see all of her thoughts written in her diary, but she does use discretion/temperance in what she says most times. You do really feel for her as a Sanguine, though, because sanguines need a lot of praise, attention, and encouragement from othera, and she doesn't really get much from her family until she says something to her mom.
Transcendentals? Ava's love of words is beautiful, and she strives to be truthful and good. Also, her dad quotes Wilde, Joyce, and other Irish authors.
Overcome human condition? Yes. Ava makes a mistake by publishing a mean story about Bea. However, she apologizes when Bea confronts her, and the two team up to help Pip. Ava also confronts her mother's favoritism in a brave way that is borne more from exasperation than insolence.
Attitude toward Catholicism? "Halloween can also be spelled Hallowe'en because the e'en stands for "evening. " Dad said it's from All Hallows' Eve--which is the night before All Saints' Day, which is when the ghosties go floating around. (Not really)" (80). Ugh.
Paganry? No
Swearing? No
Violence? No
Appropriate age? 4th -7th grade.
Writing Style: Typical 5th grade rambling writing and dialogue. Weston does a great job of keeping the tone and style consistent throughout the entire work. It is a super fast read because you're reading journal entries.
Notable Quoteables:
"Now I like pens more than pencils, and I have a favorite pen. It's silver with black in k and is the kind you click, not the kind with a cap. Dad bought it for me at the Dublin Writers Museum, and I am using it right now" (7).
Great words: slog, palindrome, onomatopoeia.
Final Summation:
Whilst Ava & Pip is a charming story about a family of word nerds that I would recommend to kids, I'm still quite annoyed with the underlying theme of bringing introverts out of their shells. Therefore:
Ava gets advice from one of Pip's classmates and gives her 5 pointers to help "bring her out of her shell:"
Week 1: Smile at one new person every day.
Week 2: Every tie you see your reflection, tell yourself, "you are totally awesome!"
Week 3: Say Hi to someone new every day, kid or grown-up.
Week 4: Compliment one person every day- on anything at all.
Week 5: Ask someone a question every day. Listen to the answer.
While I think that all of these pointers are good for any kid, even shy ones, there was a little too much about enabling "social issues" in this book. Kids shouldn't really be concerned about whether or not their siblings have social issues and how to fix them. If a kid is shy, telling them that they need to come out of their shell or to be extroverted is just plain nonsense. Society constantly screams at us that we have to be extroverted or we won't be successful, happy, or popular. Absolute nonsense. Check out this webpage, and click on any of the introverted personality types, and they'll give you a list of successful people (Gandalf is my personality type, as well as St. Thomas Aquinas!). In fact, in order to BE successful, introverts often need the OPPOSITE of what extroverts need.
Some excellent reading material:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/302696/
And this handy chart:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/understanding-introverts-_n_5989656.html
A few times in the book, Ava and Bea (Pip's classmate) complain that Pip has no friends because people think she's mean. I think that this is an important lesson in how others can perceive introverts to be unfriendly, but they're really not being unfriendly. They're simply lost in their thoughts and not concerned about social pleasantries and small talk. This type of thing just perpetuates the idea that "introverts will never be enough." We're teaching introverts how to be extroverts, but why the hell aren't we teaching extroverts the ways of the introvert? Seems a tad bit hypocritical.
On the other parenting hand, if a child is shy, I think that they should at least display manners and kindness, and gratitude, know how to speak to others (their peers as well as adults), and hold a conversation about things. Parents shouldn't enable their child's silence or rudeness by dismissing it as "social issues." That's how full-fledged social phobias and anxieties start- with the dismissive, enabling attitude of lazy parents.
Promote Virtue? Yes. While Ava's family is far from perfect, they each strive to do what is best for one another. Ava does screw up a few times and publishes a "mean" story about Bea, but she comes clean, apologizes, and she and Bea team up to help Pip. The love of language is very apparent, which I love. Ava wants to tell the truth, but is also pretty filtered for a 5th grader. We get to see all of her thoughts written in her diary, but she does use discretion/temperance in what she says most times. You do really feel for her as a Sanguine, though, because sanguines need a lot of praise, attention, and encouragement from othera, and she doesn't really get much from her family until she says something to her mom.
Transcendentals? Ava's love of words is beautiful, and she strives to be truthful and good. Also, her dad quotes Wilde, Joyce, and other Irish authors.
Overcome human condition? Yes. Ava makes a mistake by publishing a mean story about Bea. However, she apologizes when Bea confronts her, and the two team up to help Pip. Ava also confronts her mother's favoritism in a brave way that is borne more from exasperation than insolence.
Attitude toward Catholicism? "Halloween can also be spelled Hallowe'en because the e'en stands for "evening. " Dad said it's from All Hallows' Eve--which is the night before All Saints' Day, which is when the ghosties go floating around. (Not really)" (80). Ugh.
Paganry? No
Swearing? No
Violence? No
Appropriate age? 4th -7th grade.
Writing Style: Typical 5th grade rambling writing and dialogue. Weston does a great job of keeping the tone and style consistent throughout the entire work. It is a super fast read because you're reading journal entries.
Notable Quoteables:
"Now I like pens more than pencils, and I have a favorite pen. It's silver with black in k and is the kind you click, not the kind with a cap. Dad bought it for me at the Dublin Writers Museum, and I am using it right now" (7).
Great words: slog, palindrome, onomatopoeia.
Final Summation:
Whilst Ava & Pip is a charming story about a family of word nerds that I would recommend to kids, I'm still quite annoyed with the underlying theme of bringing introverts out of their shells. Therefore:
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