Summer Reading List 2017

UPDATE: 8/11/17.  I've gone as far as my pregnant brain will let me, and I don't really care to continue this quest, so I'm quitting.  Most of the books have been trite, frustrating, and dark disappointments.  I know, I know, the classics were right around the corner, but my brain is so much mush that I want for lighter things, not this heavy stuff.  

I will be resuming Word Nerd Wednesday soonish, but not on a regular basis, methinks.  That's it for now.  St. Clare of Assisi and St. Philomena, ora pro nobis.

I've decided to do some scavenging to come up with the 2017 SRL.  I've taken the summer reading lists from local Catholic High Schools just to see what kids are devouring these days.  Of the books on their lists, these are the titles that I haven't read yet.  Because there are so many, I'm going to keep my reviews of them rather short.  I've also removed the name of the schools because, frankly, I'm going to rip the books to shreds in regards to these 4 ideas:

One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?
Award:

I'm really interested in seeing what kind of ideas and agendas are being fed to youth these days.  Are they being challenged, or are they being placated with fluff that is nothing more than shock-value entertainment?  The husband and I are pretty serious about homeschooling Smalls and any subsequent siblings that come along, but I'm not sure (especially in regards to math and science) about homeschooling through high school.  This will definitely give me a good taste of any ideals or agendas coming out of some of the schools I would consider in the future.

Since this summer is going to be nuts, and the books themselves vastly vary in size and topic, I'm just going to keep everything contained here and repost throughout the summer.  I'll try to stay in order once I get rolling.  I've chosen one particular high school to start with, because they seem to have the most books with fluff shock-value.  I'm pretty sure I'll be able to breeze through these ones pretty quickly.

I've also decided on a Pass or Fail System for these books.  If they're not awesome, I don't think high schoolers should be wasting their time with them.  They're either going to be WNA or WASTE.

High School #1:

9th |  D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths by Edgar P. d’Aulaire
Reading time: approximately 4 hours, status: completed
One sentence summary:  186 page picture book containing rudimentary stories of popular Greek gods and heroes.
Does it fit the age?  Hell no.  It's written at a 3rd grade reading level.  It's WNA for 3-5th graders, not high-schoolers.
Does it help the reader grow?  Yes, if they don't know anything about Greek mythology, it might interest them.  But seriously?  For your average 9th grader?  I'd already read Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology by the time I was done with 7th grade.  Sheesh.  If I found this on a required reading list during my 8th grade year, I'd probably polish it off in a day and be a little insulted.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  N/A

10th |  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Reading time: 2 Days, status: completed.
One sentence summary:  This is the story of 2 Afghani, Muslim women, one generation apart, who, through their unfortunate circumstances, end up married to the same abusive man.
Does it fit the age?  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but I'd say that a 10th grader could handle it.  A 10th grade girl from an abusive household would NOT be able to handle this.
Does it help the reader grow?  Maybe, if you didn't know anything about the radically horrendous and abusive way of life of Afghan Muslims.  I was absolutely horrified by this book because, first of all, if you don't know anything about this extremist and violent culture, you've been living under a freaking rock since 2001.  This book is all about shock value, suspense, and terrible abuse.  I know it exists, but I don't need to read about it.  It may point the reader to what is true, but it doesn't point us to what is good or beautiful.  It DOES, however, give the reader a good insight regarding why the cycle of abuse continues because you see the way men favor their sons above their wives while abusing their wives in front of their sons.  It's wretched.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  This book contains no ilk toward Catholicism.  It's all about Afghanistan and Islam culture between the 70s and 90s, with a particular focus on how they treat women in their culture.  There's marital rape, domestic abuse, and one character almost performs an abortion on herself with a bent bicycle spoke..  WTF is this doing on a reading list for a Catholic high school?!  Seriously?    Also, a tesbih is NOT a rosary.

11th |  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer
Reading time: 3 days, and I really wanted to quit.  Status: completed.
One sentence summary:  This is the narrative of Oskar, a self-harming, 9-year-old-boy with Asperger's syndrome who deals with the aftermath of the death of his father, who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11, mixed in with letters written to him and his father.
Does it fit the age?  High school juniors could handle it; it's not a difficult read.  I don't recommend it, though.  The protagonist is only 9, and he seems to have a working general knowledge of sexually explicit things.  This book implies that it's acceptable for a 9 year old to know that kind of information.  It's not.  I think it's pointless, a bit too stream-of-consciousness, and shows a complete lack of respect for traditional dialog format.  It's tedious.  It reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which I also disliked.
Does it help the reader grow?  Not in my estimation.  Overall, it's a disappointing read.  THIS guy sums it up perfectly.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  Blatant disregard for the gift and dignity of human sexuality and marriage.  There's non-marital sex, voyeurism, adultery, and prostitution, all of which are described somewhat pornographically. Oskar's grandfather is writing a letter to his son (Oskar's father) from the airport as he's leaving his wife.  This letter contains a few unsettling descriptions of a non-marital sex scene and, later, the reasons he's leaving his wife (who is the sister of the girl from the aforementioned scene).  It seems that he feels justified in turning his back on "a marriage of millimeters and rules," and I'm concerned that the reader will conclude that this is acceptable behavior: to treat marriage as temporary and settle to living "a lie" because "I had only one life" but "it's not out of selfishness that I'm leaving" (132-35).  What utter rubbish.  Oskar also meets a war vet with (I think) PTSD, who associates everything with war, even Pope St. JP2.



11th | US History Honors​:  Rise To Rebellion by Jeff Shaara
Reading time: about a week.  Status: Incomplete
One sentence summary:  An account of the American Revolution as told through the eyes of Franklin, Adams, and others, beginning with the Boston Massacre.
Does it fit the age? Yes.
Does it help the reader grow?  Yes.  It's kind of a struggle to read this one, especially if you don't like history.  I'd especially think it'd be a shocking struggle after the other easy crap these kids have to read. It's not fabricated, shock-value twaddle.  Once I realized this, I stopped reading because I approved.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  N/A



12th | Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
Reading time:  2 days     Status:  Complete
One sentence summary:  20-something Anglican woman gives a gruesome account of the black death that takes 2/3 of the population of her small English village.
Does it fit the age? It's easy twaddle for a 12th grader, harboring on an adult romance novel.  I would not recommend this, especially to Catholics.  I'm sure there are better novels about the Black Death out there that aren't so hyper-sexualized.
Does it help the reader grow?   Wow.  In lust, maybe?  In the attitude that suffering is a completely acceptable reason to abandon your faith and take up vices like fornication, masturbation, and domestic abuse?  Ugh.  For a novel that takes place in the 1600s, this has  strong sexual innuendo in it that is kind of disgusting- bawdy songs and descriptions, and scenes that titter on the brink of soft-core porn. Unacceptable.  It doesn't add anything to the novel.  It seems as though the author is afraid that her writing isn't good enough, so she has to add that extra shock in there.  There's also a lot of violence, the attempted drowning of a baby, witchcraft, witch-hunts, and the characters who have religious conviction at the beginning of the book are void of it at the end.  The only transcendental prevalent in this book is the beauty of perseverance, how Anna continually helps her neighbors.  But the weight of this beauty is severely stifled by all of the vice that surrounds it.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  Not blatantly anti-Catholic for the most part, but it takes place in a time when most people were anti-Catholic.  The man character is Anglican, and they share some of the same terms and vocabulary as Catholics.  Whenever they talk about Catholics, they refer to them as "papists."  It is unclear about the Anglicanism until you look up "the Book of Common Prayer," so that might confuse the reader.

This part really pissed me off:
"For myself, (this is an Anglican minister) I took a page from the Papists.  Do you not know that women are the dregs of the Devil's dunghill?  Do you know how Papists teach their celibates (meaning priests) to master their desire?  When they want a woman, they school themselves to turn their thoughts to all the vile emissions of her body.  I did not allow myself to look at Elinor (his dead wife) and see her fair face or to breathe the fresh scent of her.  No!  I looked at that lovely creature and made myself think of her bile and her pus" (280).

What the actual hell?  

Here's the emotions I experienced, as illustrated through gifs:

Finally, some of the situations in this book are directly opposed to Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life.  SERIOUSLY.  One of the characters in this book performs an abortion on herself with a fire poker.  Yes, she is clearly remorseful for what she's done and has repented, but it's rattled off like nothing at all with no follow up.  WHAT THE HELL?!  WHY is this required reading at a Catholic school?

Final summation:  This school, I'm assuming, ranks lowest with a 1/5 WNA rating (D’Aulaire’s doesn't count because it's age inappropriate).  I'm thoroughly tempted to out this school so people can see what kind of agendas they're feeding to students, but I'll restrain myself.  Shame on them for the books they've chosen, especially since two of the works substantially support abortion.  

High School #2:

9th| I've already read To Kill a Mockingbird,  Lord of the Flies, and Of Mice and Men.  Great novels for freshmen.  These books are classics that definitely challenge the reader.  Not sure about the attitude toward Catholicism contained therein, but if it was horrible, I wouldn't recommend the books.

10th| Inherit the Wind – Lawrence and Lee
Reading time: a few hours Status: complete
One sentence summary:  Social commentary drama based on the Scopes monkey trial of 1925 that could fit contemporary times.
Does it fit the age?  Yes.
Does it help the reader grow?  This is one of those works that "makes you think," kind of in the way that The Matrix makes you think.

It makes you think in a good way, but it takes a few bad ways to get there.  The premise is that a teacher either taught/said something about evolution in a town where they staunchly uphold creationism to the point that teaching evolution is illegal.  (Which, I think is somewhat ridiculous).

Attitude towards Catholicism?  There's no direct opposition to Catholicism, but I dislike the caricatures of the Christians who uphold creationism.  Through the delightful literary device known as devil's advocate, they're painted as simple-minded, blind-following, bigoted sheep.  I think it's pretty pertinent to our times right now, but from the other side of the fence.  Catholics and Christians are being persecuted by every possible angle because we want to uphold our beliefs.  No one respects our right to freedom of religion and the full exercise thereof.  I am not a blind follower.  I am using my willpower and intellect to follow the TRUTH.  "The act of believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the Divine truth at the command of the will moved by the grace of God." -St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, Q. 2 a. 9.  PS.  Catholics can believe in creationism or the of evolution because both were a direct result of the thought of the Unmoved Mover.

10th Honors| Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
I've decided, upon the recommendation of Flannery O'Connor, to forego this novel.  This
great author, who was also a very devout Catholic, had this to say about it:

"I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky."

Hah!  I'm not even going to waste my time.  If Flannery O'Connor thinks Rand's writing is crap, then I'm pretty sure it doesn't do anything for high-schoolers.  This is the first time I've ever judged a book (harshly) without reading it, so I feel like the world's biggest hypocrite right now.  BUT, if a well-known Catholic author says it's garbage, then it's garbage.  I really didn't want to read it anyways.

11th| Tears of a Tiger – Sharon Draper
Reading time: approximately 3 hours Status:  Complete
One sentence summary:  Andy Jackson, a sigh school senior, gets drunk at a party, drives his friends around, crashes, his best friend, Robbie, is burned alive in the crash, and said Andy goes into a downward emotional spiral and eventually commits suicide.
Does it fit the age?  Yes.  But this book was written in 1994.  I feel like it's out of date.
Does it help the reader grow?  Somewhat.  Amidst the hysteria that's going on with other works that actually glorify suicide these days, this work, I'm glad to say, does NOT glorify suicide.  First, it shows consequences for actions like drunk driving.  This book also shows the emotional aftermath that suicide can leave on a community- and it's not pretty at all.  The protagonist doesn't also commit a huge amount of scandal by using his suicide to "get back" at people.  However, I think one of the things that pissed me off the most is that parents, teachers, adults, and most authority figures (except for the basketball coach), are portrayed as inattentive, incompetent morons.  Throughout the book, Andy is certainly reaching out for help, but most of his attempts to get the help he needs go unnoticed by most teachers, ignored by his emotionally unavailable parents, or he lies to any adults in his life that he really trusts.

Ok.  I was already annoyed with Draper by page 4.  She has a complete lack of concern for traditional dialog, and it looks like this:

It's confusing and detracts from the work.  It's just a bullet point list of who is doing the talking- there's no description whatsoever added, which makes the tone and voice weak.  Also, by page 4, the characters are already talking about "making it" with their girlfriends.  I mean, I know that kind of talk happens, but why does it need to be painted as normalcy?  I'm not impressed with this book, but I don't hate it, either.  I think that, despite its shorcomings, it serves a purpose regarding the emotional turmoil that is high school and the consequences of drunk driving and suicide.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  NA

11th| Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Reading time:  3 days  Status:  Completed

One sentence summary: Psychological survival story about an Indian boy who survives at sea for 7 months after his cargo ship sinks.
Does it fit the age?  Yes- there really isn't anything in here that is inappropriate.  The first part was tedious, the middle was a great survival story, and the third part provided us with a WTF moment.  (Hence the rating)
Does it help the reader grow? UGHHHHHH.  Yes, in moral and spiritual relativism.  This book boasts that it will help the reader believe in God.  I think that it will confuse the hell out of any non-practicing or poorly-catechized person, and help them come to the conclusion that, perhaps God exists, but "my beliefs work for me, and that's fine.  I can style them however I want by picking and choosing from the multitude of faiths out there in the spiritual cafeteria."  UGHHHH.
Attitude towards Catholicism?  This books claims that one can practice Catholicism, Hinduism, and Islam at the same time.  FALSE.  WRONG.  NO.  The protagonist is practicing all three faiths at the same time, AND he is baptized by the priest while the priest KNOWS that he is practicing the other two faiths.  1.  Being baptized Catholic means that you promise uphold the Creed, faith in the Trinity, and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Practicing or clinging to any other faiths and holding them true at the same time is contrary to those promises.  A decision must be made.  You can't have them all.  2.  A well-formed priest would never baptize a person with the full knowledge that he or she is practicing other faiths.  The practice of other faiths alone speaks loudly that the person is not ready to commit to a life lived for Christ.


12th| A Long Way Gone:Memoirs of a Boy Soldier—Ishmael Beah
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

12th Honors| Catch 22 - Joseph Heller  and one independent novel
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

High School #3:

9th | Greek Myths (Hamilton, Edith) I read this in 8th grade but it'd be nice to revisit.
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

10th | Myths of the Norsemen (Green, Roger Lancelyn)
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

11th | Praise of Folly (Erasmus)
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

12th | Frankenstein (Shelley, Mary)  (I read this in college, but it'd be nice to revisit)
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

High School #4:  

9th| The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

9th| The Time Machine by HG Wells
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

I've read all the fiction books they have for Soph-Senior, and I must say, these are great selections and they're age appropriate.  Brave New World might be pushing it a little, but they're old enough.
10th| Lord of the Flies
11th| Their Eyes were Watching God
AP 11/12|  Pick one fiction title: 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 AND one nonfiction title from a list of 26.

The NF title I chose is:
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

High School #5

Lastly, my alma mater.  I'm thrilled with most of the things that they're required to read during the school year for classes.  During the summer, though, students are required to read two books (3 if they'll be in an honors class), of any kind, and by any author. Ugh.  Luckily, their teachers have some great recommendations.  Unfortunately, I've read most of those on their lists, so I've decided to pick one from each that I haven't read.

Night by Elie Weisel
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (Which I was going to read anyway, hah)
Reading time:  Status:
One sentence summary:
Does it fit the age?
Does it help the reader grow?
Attitude towards Catholicism?



1: NDA, KY
2: Cov Cath
3: Chesterton
4: Cov Lat.
5: NDA, GB

Dandelion Wine

And now, gentle reader, we conclude this school-year's run of Word-Nerd-Wednesday as I return to one of my absolute favorites from my teenage years.  From here on out, (Until maybe October, after the baby comes), I'll be sticking to my summer reading list.  That will start next week, but the posts will be sporadic and only when I finish a book.  Some of the books are short, so I'll finish a few in a week, perhaps.  Some are much more heavy, and it will take me a while.

Speaking of required reading, I recall that this was on the summer reading list for incoming freshman at my alma mater.  After reading Dandelion Wine, I loved Ray Bradbury, and I was super excited to read Fahrenheit 451 in my Freshman English B class.  I must say that I am disappointed with the way they do things there, now.  Instead of having to pick from a list, students are told to read 2 books (any two books, abut anything) during the summer.  3 books, if they're in honors.  Ugh.  I can just imagine all of the graphic novels being consumed.  Ugh.

Anyways, when I started down the dandelion path, I fell in love with Bradbury's writing style.  I devoured everything he wrote that I could get my hands on, and in college, I commenced purchasing anything I could find (novels and collected short stories) that he wrote.  Before I had to gut my book collection for the first time, I had over 25 books on my shelves with his name on them.  When I had to purge my books before coming a missionary, I kept 5 "essential" favorites:

The copy of Dandelion Wine that I have is the original copy that I purchased before freshman year, and it smelllllllls delicious.

My love of Bradbury's writing led to an impromptu visit to Green Town 4 years ago on a beautiful July day, where I spent half of it poring over library archives, viewing his childhood home and the neighboring house belonging to his grandparents, flying up the steps of his old library, walking through the haunted ravine of the Lonely One, and reading his poem, Byzantium, I Come Not From aloud from the 113th step atop the ravine.

So good.  There were buttercups everywhere and the ravine was eerily silent, barely a bird made nary a noise.   Ah.  So good. 

My father-in-law also made strawberry wine for the wedding reception, and I got to see the process first hand.  It reminded me of the scenes in the book where Grampa is making Dandelion wine.  I've always wondered what it would taste like.  I wonder if dad would be willing to try it.  

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

239 Pages.  Reading Time:  A few days

Back cover reads: The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy.  A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers.  Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner.  It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees.  A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding--remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

1st page of the introduction:  I took a long look at the green apple trees and the old house I was born in and the house next door where lived my grandparents, and all the lawns of the summers I grew up in, and I began to try words for all that.  What you have here in this book then is a gathering of dandelions from all those years.  The wine metaphor which appears again and again in these pages is wonderfully apt.  I was gathering images all of my life, storing the away, and forgetting them.  Somehow I had to send myself back, with words as catalysts, to open the memories out and see what they had to offer.

Much like my favorite childhood book of all time, this pretty much sums up how I feel about Dandelion Wine:

Granted, I wasn't really a child anymore when I read it.  I was 14 and an awkward freshman, but still.  It left an impression.

I have a feeling that I'm going to quote the entire book.  Heh.


Initial Reaction:  It has most of the warm fuzzies I remember as a kid, but it's much more.... scattered and .... stream of consciousness than I remember.  The description and imagery are what get me every time.  Bradbury is great at it.  He just sucks you in like a vortex and doesn't let go.  It's just about a boy who discovers he's alive at the beginning of the summer, and the townspeople he encounters.

Promote Virtue?  Yes.  John 10:10

Transcendentals?  They aren't prevalent, but the writing is stunning.  The quest for truth and goodness aren't very apparent, but they're there.  this is definitely a work of "the light."  If anything, it makes you want to live, to be alive, to celebrate life.

Overcome human condition?  Yes.  The characters know their faults and try to overcome them.  But that's not really the aim of the work.

Attitude toward Catholicism?  N/A

Paganry?  No

Swearing?  No

Violence?  No. But there is a murdering prowler and it mentions his murders.

Appropriate age?  For a read aloud- I'd probably say 9-10ish.  Independent reading?  12+

Writing Style:  Bradburian.  Just like I like it.  Read it.  Appreciate it.  If you've only read Fahrenheit 451 and were turned off, read this.  It's entirely different.

Notable Quoteables:

"The people there were gods and midgets and knew themselves mortal and so the midgets walked tall so as not to embarrass the gods and the gods crouched so as to make the small ones feel at home.  And, after all, isn't that what life is all about, the ability to go around back and come up inside other people's heads to look out at the damned fool miracle and say: oh, so that's how you see it!?  Well, now, I must remember that" (xii).  Oh, I love him.

"Douglas, conducting an orchestra, pointed to the eastern sky.  The sun began to rise" (3).

"In that silence you could hear the wildflower pollen sifting down the bee-fried air, by God, the bee-fried air!" (6)  Dude.  Bee-fried air.  Think about that.

"...and Tom letting the words rise like quick soda bubbles in his mouth..." (7).

"...the yellow Ticonderoga pencil, whose name he dearly loved" (28).

Isn't it beautiful?

"In the garage they found, dusted, and carried forth the howdah, as it were, for the quiet summer-night festivals, the swing chair which Grandpa chained to the porch-ceiling eyelets" (29).  I love this paragraph because me and my brother helped our grandparents do the same thing during the two summers they babysat us.  They didn't have a swing that hung from the porch, though.  They had a huge glider that was the size of a sofa.  It was painted canary yellow and had a huge futon-like mattress on it. It was great because they didn't have air conditioning in their house during the Illinois summer, and there was always a breeze on the porch in the shade.

"And dandelions and devil grass are better!  Why?  Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people and the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again.  And when you're all to yourself that way, you're really yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone" (50).  This is exactly how I felt about pruning the trees and felled branches on Bosco point for a week.

"The children, who had been screaming horribly at each other, fell silent, as if the Red Death had entered at the chiming of the clock" (55).  Favorite Poe story!

"But Leo Auffmann was too busy noticing that the room was falling swiftly up.  How interesting, he thought, lying on the floor" (55).  Always loved this scene.

"Be what you are, bury what you are not" (76).

"Inside redness, inside blindness, Douglas lay listening to the dim piston of his heart and the muddy ebb and flow of the blood in his arms and legs" (213).  Wow.  outstanding.

"The kitchen, without doubt was the center of creation, all things revolved about it; it was the pediment that sustained the temple" (223).

Great words: Portentously, languorous, implacable, stealthily, effluvium, toothsome, sere.  So many great metaphors and similes, too.

Final Summation:  This is a great work of fiction about boys being boys without electronics in the days that boys and men celebrated their masculinity in authentic ways, and I can't wait to share it with mine.

Cheaper by the Dozen

So today we come to a little beat-up book that is featured in our own home library.  I like the movie by Steve Martin (it's ok- but I won't buy it), but my husband watched it once (after reading the book and seeing the first move), and he refuses to watch it.  I've seen parts of the movies from the 60s, and he loves that one.  He loves this book.  It's under his recommendation that I read it and "review it for my book blog thing."  He says it's hilarious and completely different than the movie.  I pretty much love anything to do with big families, because we want to have a big family, so I'm exited to read it.  Here we go!



Cheaper by the Dozen
Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.
180 pages, reading time:

Back cover reads:  Back in the days when the "horseless carriage" was a novelty, there were twelve red-headed Gilbreth children, and they had more fun than a traveling circus.  They lived in a great, big, wonderful house in the country, with all kinds of pets, a large, gray Pierce-Arrow that Dad Gilbreth called "Foolish Carriage."

Whenever Dad took the family for a ride, someone was sure to ask, "How do you feed all those kids?"

And Dad would reply: "Well, you know they come cheaper by the dozen."











Initial Reaction:  I'm already charmed, and I'm only 6 pages in.  I feel like this is going to be a heartwarming story.  Ok.  I'm about 60 pages in, and the 2003 movie is absolutely RUBBISH compared to the book.  I really enjoyed the first half of the book or so, where Dad seemed to be a great head of the household- regimented and strict, but still affectionate toward his children.  In the last half of the book, the affection and caring seems to wane, and his character seems to change from a loving father to a barking overseer.  I don't like that.  Dad and Mother start off as a pretty solid team at the beginning of the book, with Mother tolerating most of the ridiculousness.  Towards the end of the book, Dad disregards some of the things that she says, and she ends up ignoring him because of it.  I really don't like that, either.  The middle of the book dragged a little bit, and I grew weary of the severity of Dad's barking, but once you hit the chapters about him dealing with his first few daughters hitting their teens, it is hilarious.  I feel like the book ended super abruptly, but I also feel like the author didn't want to dwell much on the events surrounding the death of his father.

Promote Virtue?  Yes.  Dad strives to raise well behaved, intelligent, and efficient children.  They way he goes about it is a little difficult to deal with if you're a reader who didn't have strict parents, or if you're a snowflake raising snowflakes.  I can really relate to dad's thoughts on efficiency.  He wanted to find the laziest man on the job, because he knew the guy would do his job the quickest.  That's how I feel.  I'm not lazy, I'm efficient.  Well, I am lazy.  But I want to find the quickest and best way to do something.  Dad's parenting methods are a little weird, but he is a loving father and husband who models great virtue for his family.

Transcendentals?  Dad loves goodness and truth.  There's really not much to do with beauty in the book.

Overcome human condition?  Dad teaches his kids to be respectful and overcome their faults.  He also tries hard to overcome his.  That really isn't the focus of the story though.  It's just a story about an eccentric dad and his weird ways.

Attitude toward Catholicism?  "Dad's theories ranged from Esperanto, which he made us study because he thought it was the answer to half the world's problems, to immaculate conception, which he said wasn't supported by available biological evidence" (126).  It's not a matter of science.  It's a matter of Faith.  It's also a mystery that our wee little 10 percents can't really handle that well.

Paganry?  Nope

Swearing? Mild- a few damns.  I like how the author self-censors any real cursing, but he does allow 2 G-Ds to get in there and JC in there.  What the heck?!

Violence?  Nope

Appropriate age?  This would definitely be a fun read-aloud with age 7+ plus, there's nothing really too harmful in it that I would glide over.  The vocabulary is easy enough for a curious 3rd or 4th grader.

Writing Style:  Gilbreth writes in a snappy, honest, and humorous style that keeps the reader interested.  It really just depends on how long the reader can tolerate Dad's antics.  I started getting a little put off in the last 3rd of the book, but was satisfied again with the last few chapters when the humor returned.

Notable Quoteables:

"And when we'd throw our arms around him and tell him how we'd missed him, he would choke up and wouldn't be able to answer.  So he'd rumply our hair and slap our bottoms instead" (6).  dawwww.

"Dad seldom swore.  an occasional 'damn,' perhaps, but he believed in setting a good example.  Usually he stuck to such phrases as 'by jingo' and 'holy Moses'" (10).  HE uses Holy Moses?!  I use Holy Moses!!

"He screamed, as if he had been saving this oath since his wedding day for such an occasion" (11).  bahahah.

" 'What do only children do with themselves,?' we'd think" (24).

"The first thing you'd do is fire the red-headed unprintable son of a ruptured deleted who tried to get your job" (26).  I love this kind of self-censorship.  bahahahahah

"Dad said he believed in God, but that he couldn't stand clergymen [...] Dad told Mother that the only church he'd even consider joining was the Catholic Church.  'That's the only outfit that would give me some special credit for having such a large family,' he said.  'Besides, most priests whom I have know do not appear to be surreptitious pinchers'" (50).  Not quite sure how I feel about this part.
At first, I'm all:

Then, I'm all: Meh.  He's human.  We'd want to have him in the Church. 

"To be efficient, in the Gilbreth family, was a virtue on a par with veracity, honesty, generosity, philanthropy, and tooth-brushing" (65).  Heh

"I'd a lot rather raise wallflowers than clinging vines or something worse.  The next thing I know you'll be wanting to paint" (155).  Dad is arguing with the girls about the changes in fashion (Edwardian fashion to Jazz Age fashion).  I do particularly agree with this statement, but not just in regards to fashion.  I want my future sons-in-law to appreciate my daughters in their entirety, external and internal beauty, and not just be obsessed with how attractive they are.  (Proverbs 31:30).  A girl or woman should never define herself by a man's opinion of her.  Her definition is a beloved daughter of the Father who was beautifully and wonderfully made.  I want to raise girls who will recognize and appreciate a man (like their father) who acknowledges the worth she already has instead of attempting to define it by his own selfish tastes.  A man like that is worth waiting for.  Mine was.  I also want to raise young men who can recognize the dignity and worth of a woman and wait to receive her as gift.

"It used to be that a father promised his son a gold watch if he didn't smoke until he was twenty-one.  Now the kids get a raccoon coat as a matter of routine if they manage to stumble through high school" (159).  Yeah.  This is a great commentary on the state of "positive reinforcement" in education these days, and this took place in the early 1900s.  It's just ridiculous.

"If he 'pops' me, I'll pop him" (161).  This book reeks of my father-in-law and his father.  I'm pretty sure they loved this book.

"He looks like what might happen if a pigmy married a barber pole" (162).  LMAO!!!!

"Some simpleton with pimples in his voice wants to speak to Ernestine" (167).  BAHAHAHAH!

Great words:
ominously, supplication, extricate, livid, fraught, menacingly, revel, unamenable, averted, qualms,

Final Summation:
Overall, this book helps me understand my husband and his father quite a bit more.  It's a good story about a man who is trying to be fully who he is while using his gifts for his family's sustenance and formation.  I do like it, but it doesn't make me giddy.  It did make me guffaw and belly laugh a few times, though.  Books rarely do that for me..  It's also one that my husband really loves, so it's

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic

Ahoy! Happy feast of Sts. Philip and James the Lesser!  And a special shoutout to St. Joseph the Worker- it was his feast day on Monday!

Anyways, we're back again this week with a great recommendation from one of my word-nerdy facebook groups.  Besides the recommendation, what really caught my attention was the cover art.  I know Brett Helquist because of his work on Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, and I really enjoy his artistic style.  Next week, I was going to start "A Month of Bradbury" with Dandelion Wine, but my husband recommended something else that he's wanted me to read for a while.

Also, our first ultrasound!  Meet baby Smalls!

Lookit the fat little baby head!  The eyes!  The pudgy little belly!!  Baaahh!

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic
Jennifer Trafton
339 Pages, Reading time: a week, maybe?

Back cover reads:  Ten-year-old Persimmony Smudge lives a boring life on the Island in the Middle of Everything, desperately longing for high adventure.  But when she overhears  life-altering secret, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of an amazing and perilous journey.  Mount Majestic, the rising and falling mountain in the center of the island, isn't actually what everyone thinks it is.  And now it is up to Persimmony and her new friend, Worvil the Worrier, to convince the island's quarreling inhabitants, including the stubborn young king, that they must come together to face the truth.  The question is, will she be able to make everyone believe this unbelievable tale?








Initial Reaction:

She likes to compare things to potatoes.  The entirety of events in chapter 14, In Which It Pays to be Polite, but Grammar Can Get Sticky, stems from a character correcting the grammar of another.  Love it.  Overall, it's a great story, and an amazing book for to read aloud.

Promote Virtue?  Yes.  Indescribably.  Virtue is rampant in this work.  I love it because Persimmony does struggle with her situations and battles, but overall, we know that she is a character of the Light.  She does not sink into darkness.  That's not to say that there isn't injustice, danger, and evil in her world, but the author does not focus on those things.  There isn't really a villain in the book- no one is painted as the enemy, except for maybe the poisonous tortoises.  King Lucas is a bit of a jerk, but he's a childish one, and not a tyrant.  Everyone is afraid of the giant, but he's asleep and doesn't really do much.

Also, the story did kind of drag in the middle, but it picked up in the last 75 pages or so.  I don't think I'd feel that way if I read it in like 2 days instead of 7.

Lastly, I was disappointed that her father didn't come back.

Transcendentals?  Yes.  The majority of Trafton's characters fight for what is good, true, and beautiful.  This is really apparent in each of the different races on the island.  The Leafeaters are great artists who cherish tradition, good manners, and nature.  The Rumblebumps are simple creatures that are clever tricksters, but they also have a sense of humor that either confounds everyone or keeps everyone in a good mood.  Persimmony herself desires to share truth and be an adventuring heroine.  The only group of people (surprise!) that are lacking are the human townspeople.  Most of them are grumpy and have a mob mentality, but one can't really be surprised at this because of the enthroned spoiled brat that is their king.

Overcome human condition?  Yes.  I think we see the transformations of Persimmony, King Lucas, and Worvil the most.  Persimmony and Worvil grow in bravery, virtue, and ability.  King Lucas has undergoes a metanoia and doesn't want to by lofty anymore, but humble, so that's good.

Attitude toward Catholicism?  This is a work of fiction, but it definitely smacks of influence by Tolkien.  (Confirmed by reading her webpage bio.  She has a miniature rooster named Tom Bombadill).  There are certainly Christian themes and heroic virtue, but I think that this quote explains it best: "Perhaps there are somethings that we are not meant to understand.  Without a few mysteries and a few giants, life would be a very small thing, after all" (256).  BOOM.  I immediately thought about things like The Holy Trinity, The Eucharist, and Purgatory.  These are all gigantic mysteries of the Catholic Faith that really can't be explained or understood fully (Purgatory is an especially difficult one for me to wrap my head around).

Paganry?  Nope

Swearing?  Nill

Violence?  Swashbuckling, adventure type.  Not much.

Appropriate age?  To hear during a read-aloud- I'd say 6 or 7+.  For independent reading, I'd say 4th or 5th grade +.

Writing Style:  Trafton writes a great adventure story that keeps moving.  Her description injects us into the world of Persimmony, and the plot keeps us captivated.  She also throws in great words, a few malapropisms, and some overall foolishness.  I think the only reason that I felt like the book dragged was because I was tired whilst reading it.  Trafton does an excellent job developing her protagonist and even some of her secondary characters.

Notable Quoteables:

"There is a very good possibility that you will not believe a word I say" (1).  First sentence of the prologue.  What a great hook!  I'm a sucker for good hooks.

"Prunella broke down in another fit of crying.  She had tried so hard.  She really had.  The teacups were neatly stacked" (33).  This paragraph has such weight to it.  It shows how the little things can be overlooked during times of exasperation.

"King Lucas was one of those people who wanted to be known as wise but didn't particularly like to think" (49).  This kid.  I've only just met him, and I want to punch him in the face.  I do like that he uses malapropisms.

" 'The sea goes on forever,' the professor said, gritting his teeth, 'because there is no proof to the contrary, and if there is no proof to the contrary, then it is true' " (53).  Nice little does of societal norm right there.

"Books, my dear, books!  You can learn a lot by reading" (73).

"...you are two quacks short of a roast duck" (110).  bahahaha.

"His forehead was stamped with the footprints of a  hundred worries..." (141)

"Please believe that under normal circumstances I would never harm a girl," said the Leafeater standing behind her, "but if you don't put away your sword I shall be forced to run my pickax through her insides" (238).  Well.  That escalated quickly.

"How could she have thought that she could save anyone?  She wasn't enough" (286).  Feminine wound surfacing, right there.

Great words:
comeuppance, lurch, bulbous,  preposterous, decipher, imminent, expound, retort, balderdash, bemoaning, sparsely, envious, indefatigable, eloquent, valiantly, pondering, slathering, dismally, dolorously, calamitously, lamentably, flailing, convulsed, vulgar, indecorous

Final Summation:  The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic is a great book for kids.  It will make an awesome read aloud for the youngsters, and an amazing adventure story for middle grades.  Trafton does a great job keeping her characters in the light, even though they face some pretty harsh circumstances.  All of these qualities are quite admirable, but I'm still not turning backflips over it.   It was clever, but not charming.  It was interesting, but not intriguing.  It's a good book, but I don't LOVE it.  Therefore: