Among the Hidden

I've read the book "Among the Hidden" by Margaret Peterson Haddix at least twice or so before I decided to read it again and write and blog on it for one of my last outside reading books. The book is about a young boy named Luke Garner who is the third child in his family, after his two older brothers Matthew and Mark. As a third child, poor Luke is forced to live in the attic, and is really never able to come out. The reason for Luke's confinement, or hiding is because of the population law. It states that no family should have more than 2 children in their household. As time goes by, I think Luke just considers living in the attic and hiding a way of life, and that many children in other households do it too. Luke indeed is right about other children having to hide. One day he discovers another child in the window of a house nearby. Letting his curiousity get the best of him, he sneaks over to the house next door and meets the child he saw in the window. To his surprise, the child is a young girl about his age named Jen Talbot who is also a third child. Jen seems a little more well off and confident compared to Luke. She even has a fake ID. With this fake ID, she is able to leave the house and go to the president's house to form a rally for all third children. Luke chickens out and doesn't go with her, and unfortunately finds out later that things did not work out in Jen's favor. Jen's father gives Luke a fake ID and sends him off to a private school in hope of more freedom.

I'm not completely sure, but I believe the whole third child/population law is based off of what has occured and what still does take place in certain places around the world. It's sad to think that parents have to risk their child's life in order to keep them alive. One thing that's kind of cool about this book is that all the Garner boys have biblical names. In fact, they're gospel names (the 1st three gospels) Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This idea makes me think that Haddix is trying to point out that these children, especially Luke, are children of God.... just a thought. This book is really good and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm pretty sure this book is part of a series dealing with shadow children. I haven't read any of the others, but might think about it. I'm sure they would be good too.

The Stinky Cheese Man

I don't really remember reading this book as a child, but I know I must have a least once. If not, I know I've at least heard of it. As the title of the book that this story is found in; "The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales," "The Stinky Cheese Man" is definately a stupid story. This story is really short, and to me doesn't really have much of a plot to it. A little old man and a little old lady make a man out of stinky cheese, with a piece of bacon for a mouth and two olives for eyes. Once he comes out of the oven he escapes. Everyone he encounters as he runs away can't stand his stinky odor, and he yells to each one of them "Run run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the Stinky Cheese Man!" As this line kept appearing in the story I recognized it from another fairy tale I'm familiar with: The Gingerbread Man.

I'm really not sure how or what the illustrations contribute to the text/story. The illustrations are quite bazaar. One thing I noticed was that the Stinky Cheese Man appears extremely large on the first couple of pages; but as he encounters the cow, the little girl and the fox, he appears rather small (tinier than them). And then, on the last page when he falls into the river we can only see his eyes and mouth, which make him appear big again. I also noticed as I read this story that the size of the text changed as well. It started big, gradually got a little smaller, gets bigger again, and then is the largest on the very last page. I'm really not sure what the author is trying to convey with the change of the size of the text and with the Stinky Cheese Man, but I'm sure it must signify something.

Peter and Max

Today in class we discussed many similarities and connections between Peter Rabbit and Max, and the two books they are found in. First off, they are both wild little boys who like to get into trouble and end up disobeying their mothers. And just like Peter is a little rabbit as well as a young boy, Max is a "wild thing"/wolf as well as a young boy too. Both of these typical little boys appear to rebel against each one of their mother's civilized nature when they disobey them. However, in the end after they both return from their journeys, both Max and Peter are left with tea/dinner and put to bed. The fact that Peter's mother gives him tea to feel better and tucks him in bed, and the fact that Max's mom leaves him a warm dinner, shows that their mothers still do love and care for them and they aren't going to really scold their children for disobeying them. I guess the mothers figure that the boys have learned their lesson on their own, and will hopefully make better decisions in the future. The idea of parent/child conflict is evident in these two stories, but the authors don't let it get out of hand. They simply show that the mothers both have rules for their sons to follow and warn them about bad behavior, but they still love them in the end. And it seems as though Peter and Max realize this in the end because they both return home after their wild journeys and become more "civilized." Max sheds his wildness (the hood of his costume), just like Peter sheds his wildness/"little boy-ness" (by taking off his clothes and shoes) in the end. The two both shed their wild, uncivilized character and return to civilization... better known as home to mom. I didn't really think about these two books relating so much to eachother as well as their characters, but after discussing it it's clear to see!

Where the Wild Things Are

This is some crazy picture book. I remember reading it when I was younger, but I guess now I kind of have a different perspective on the book. I find the main character Max to be really amusing. Again, he seems like the typical little boy who is wild and likes to get into trouble just like we saw with Peter Rabbit. From the very start of the book he is dressed in a monster costume. It's comical how he truly believes he is a scary monster throughout basically the entire book, especially when he's around the wild things. The fact that he believes he is the King of the wild things is even more amusing because he is so much smaller than them, and is obviously not a real monster. But, with some thought, it's clear that this is what many young boys do as children: They imagine themselves in some other world as some type of king, monster, bad guy, etc. who conquers the world.

The illustrations add so much to the story, and it obviously wouldn't be the same without them. The fact that the little boy Max is dressed as a monster in most of the story, makes it seem more real, even though its obvious its not. However, when children read this book or have this book read to them, I'm sure they can see Max as more of a monster than we as young adults can. The illustrations seem to start off somewhat simple, but as Max travels to the place where the wild things are, the illustrations start to become busier and more complex. This kind of gets the reader, especially a child, more into the story and almost "trapped" in this wild world the author and illustrator have created. One last thing before I just go on and on; In the beginning and throughout most of the book, Max is seen in his monster costume and all we can see is his face, but then at the end when he returns to his room, (after wanting to be where someone loved him best of all) we see his head and hair as well. It seems as though he is starting to take his costume off a little, or it is falling off. Some can maybe interpret this to mean that Max is growing up and losing that sense of childhood and imagination.

The Cat in the Hat

"The Cat in the Hat" is an all time classic children's book by Dr. Seuss. Not only this Dr. Seuss book, but others such as "Green Eggs and Ham," "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish," and of course "How the Grinch stole Christmas" are popular books that many young children first learn to read from. Believe it or not, even though many children don't realize it, they're reading poetry when they read Dr. Seuss' books. "The Cat in the Hat" is a perfect example of poetry with the rhyming, rhthym, and play with words. The words that are used in this book are basic, primary words that children are first introduced to once they begin reading. The illustrations are somewhat basic too; well, at least the colors. The only colors that are used are red, blue, white, and black. The reason for this is probably in order to not get children confused and lost with the illustrations and colors as they begin to learn to read. And even though Dr. Seuss books contain a limited vocabulary, they become very popular among young children with their fun, outrageous characters and adventures. The crazy Cat in "The Cat in the Hat" and Thing 1 and Thing 2 appear to be the outrageous characters in this particular book who cause a lot of chaos and trouble. Surprisingly, the two young children don't really do anything about it. In fact, their fish is the only one who seems to have sanity and enough sense to know that their mother would not approve at all. The book ends with the mother not ever finding out about it, yet the children still and will probably never forget the nonsense that went on that rainy day when they didn't have anything to do.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

As I was reading this picture book, I made sure I paid close attention to each and every illustration. Before I started reading the book itself, I read the publisher's note that talked about how this particular edition contained "reorginated illustrations and such." Using the very first edition as a guide, the goal was to "follow faithfully Beatrix Potter's intentions while benefiting from advances in modern printing and design techniques." It also mentioned how this edition contains six extra illustrations, as well as the text being "reset in a period typeface of the right weight to harmonise witht the delicacy of the pictures." When reading each page I did notice that the text complimented the illustration on the page beside it, and vice versa. The shorter versions of text seemed to pair up with the simple pictures, while the longer texts seemed to pair up with the more significant and complex pictures. I enjoyed the illustrations a lot. They were very lifelike indeed and added much to the text. It's been awhile since I've read this book, but in the beginning before we know what kind of trouble Peter gets himself into, we can see in the second illustration that trouble is going to sturr up. We can see this becuase Peter is not paying attention to his mother who is telling him and his sisters to stay out of trouble and to not go into Mr. McGregor's garden. Then, in the rest of the book the reader can clearly see Peter has gotten himself into trouble because he is by himself getting into something, or running from the evil Mr.McGregor; not anywhere near his sisters who seem to be behaving themselves. He not only is a little bunny, but he is a typical little boy.

Picture Books

I want to first start off by saying how weird it is that two of the books we discussed in class today were two of the picture books I read for my outside reading list: "Goodnight Moon," and "Make way for Ducklings."

I never realized just how important illustrations really are in children's storybooks. As we were discussing several picture books in class today it opened my eyes to the fact that illustrations are very important. The several times I've read "Goodnight Moon," I never really noticed what was missing in the text. The text just seemed to describe the setting, while the illustrations added to the setting, giving the reader a more in depth look at the setting as well as the characters. For example, in this book the reader is never told that the main characters are bunnies or that the little bunny is a boy; we have to determine this by looking at the pictures. When I read "Make way for Ducklings" the first time, I never really noticed anything missing from the text because the illustrations were right there to fill in the missing pieces and continue the story along. It's amazing to think that pictures can add so much to a story. In fact, illustrations can often times be more important than the text itself. From now on I will most likely look at the illustrations in picture books more in depth, in order to fully grasp what happens in the story.

Parents Weekend!

This weekend was A&M's 90th Parents Weekend. I think it's an awesome tradition we have here because it gives the students and university the chance to thank all the wonderful Aggie parents for all that they're done (esp. paying for our tutition... haha). There were several activities and events for parents to do with their children, but my mom and I kind of did our own thing. She came in on Saturday morning and we went to my co-chair's house (for fish camp) to have hotdogs and hamburgers and visit with all the other families. The weather was so nice and made the a lot more enjoyable. Of course, after we ate we went shopping!! haha. She bought me some things from the mall and the tent sale, as well as a thing or two for her. I bought myself a thing or two as well because I felt bad that she paid for a lot of things. That night we went to the baseball game, which just so happened to be my first one ever as well as hers. It was really fun, but long and cold too. We left the game early to go tryout Texas Roadhouse, which was AMAZING!!! And then this morning we went to church together and of course made sure we stopped by Canes and Starbucks before she left. Some college kids probably aren't too fond of hanging out with their parents, but I enjoyed it a lot and wished my dad and my sister could have come too. I loved being able to kind of show my mom the life I lived here, including dorm life; yes, she stayed with me and my roommate in our tiny dorm. This weekend not only showed me how much I appreciate my mom (and dad even though he wasn't here), but also how much I enjoy spending time with her. I know this doesn't have really anything to do with children's literature, but since I really didn't have the proper amount of time to do my second paper for this class cause of Parents Weekend, I thought I would share my weekend and let everyone know how much I love and appreciate my parents. Every University should have a Parents Weekend if they don't have one already; it would be wrong if they didn't.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The book "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares is a great book, especially for young girls. The 2005 movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is in fact made from this book. I actually saw the movie before I read the book and enjoyed both of them, even though there were a few things here and there that were different between the two. Basically, the two are about four young high school girls who discover a pair of jeans that just so happen to fit all of them. The fact that the pants fit each girl so well is odd considering they are all different in size. With these "magical" pants, the girls make a vow to share these pants over the summer when they are apart from eachother. Each girl has the pants for so long and is then supposed to send the pants, as well as a letter of her adventures, to the next. Throughout the book each girl experiences much growth and maturation through their journeys of friendship, love, misfortunes, and family issues. It's with these experiences and witht the pants that the girls grow closer together as friends, even though they are apart from one another most of the book. This book can relate to a few things we've read this semester. It deals with growth and maturation, journeys/adventures, challenges and heartaches, as well as a sense of magic too. Even though this book and the three others in the series are meant for young teens I still enjoyed it. I wouldn't even mind reading the others, and I can't wait for the sequel to the movie to come out either!

Utopia

Yesterday in class we started discussing "The Giver" and what kind of world and society existed in the book. We discussed the odd characteristics of this book's world, as well as what it lacked. After reviewing the characteristics we were really able to see that this book's world was indeed that of a "Utopia," or imaginary world. Just like Professor Robinson pointed out, the song "Imagine," written by John Lennon in about 1971, really portrays this sort of "Utopia": no death, no heaven, no hell, no religion, no hunger, etc. ... just peace and happiness.

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday

you'll join us

And the world will live as one

A Mother's Love

The famous line "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" is from the all time classic "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. This book is my all time favorite and I'm sure many other people's favorite too. I can't even count how many times I read this book as a child; I'd lose count. As well being a narrative story, this book could probably be considered poetic in a way as well, with the repitition of the oh so unforgettable line. The book is also fairly basic, but somehow everyone seems to fall in love with it after he or she reads it. Maybe it's the enjoyable, detailed, realistic illustrations that help the reader better relate the book to his or her life. I hope this book is still around when I have children because I would love to share it with them.

The Giver: Structured society

Within just the first couple of chapters I could already see how crazy of a society Jonas and his family live in. There's no doubt that this society is extremely structured with its numerous rules. The different ceremonies; such as the ceremony when you turn a certain age; when you get a bike; and when a family receives a new child or an elder, add to the strangeness of the society. This book is quite different and unique compared to what we've read this semester, but interesting at the same time. I believe it's considered a type of fantasy or even a science fiction work. The aspect that makes sense in a way is the fact that the "Commitee of Elders" rule the community. In fact, in our society today those who are older than us (our parents) are the people who run the household and make the rules. The book's elders, however, seem to be fairly old like our grandparents, making it seem a little strange that adults so much older than the rest of society are responsible for basically everything that happens. Right now this book doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm interested to know what happens next.

The hero within

It's interesting that when reading literature there are so many "heroes" found. This so called hero can be a little girl who saves her grandmother, a miner boy, or even a hobbit. It was kind of odd to consider a strang little hobbit a hero, but after reading over the stages of the hero in the article about "The Hero with a thousand faces," it was clear to see. It's weird that as a child we look at a hero being someone like Superman and Wonderwoman, but as we grow up and read different types of literature, our perspective changes. As young adult/educated student, we consider a hero somebody who is basically introduced into a different world than his or her own, called to take some kind of adventure, encouraged to stick it out by some man or woman older and wiser, passes through the first threshold, encounters tests but helpers as well, reaches the intermost cave, endures the ultimate worst or "supreme ordeal," overcomes the enemy or obstacle, takes the road back, "resurrects" from this second world, and then finally returns to their own world with some type of treasure.