So Many Books; So little Time

My Grandfather’s Son

My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir

by Clarence Thomas

c. 2007

I originally checked this book out of the public library for my husband but he declined to read it. Something about some woman and…..

I really, really, really liked this book. I will admit that I like Justice Thomas and avoided watching the confirmation proceedings because I knew he wouldn’t get a fair shake by the Democrats but even I was amazed at how far they would go to try to keep a Republican nominee off the bench.

This is Thomas’ story. Not just his story of the confirmation hearings though they are a part of the book–the ending–but his story from his earliest memories to his swearing in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Thomas was born in Georgia in the heart of the Confederacy with the Ku Klux Klan rampant and just before the State of Georgia adopted a flag featuring the Confederate Flag as a component. His parents were divorced and he met his father only once before becoming an adult. As a youngster, he and his brother were sent to live with his mother’s father and step-mother and there the story really begins.

I don’t know that this is so much a story of how a poor black boy from Pinpoint rose to sit on the Supreme Court as it is a tribute to the man who would take nothing from anyone–Myers Anderson. Thomas’ grandfather never took food stamps, a government check, or sent “his boys” to public school. He also never allowed them to “run wild” as youngsters growing up. His family had a piece of farmland and that was where the boys were to go in the summer–to grow food for the winter.

Thomas admits to many character flaws and to leaving the self-sufficient upbringing his grandfather gave him. He admits to being an angry black man as a young adult. He admits to mistakes he made. He admits to quitting when he promised he wouldn’t.

What he doesn’t do in this book is trash people. He takes every ounce of blame for his divorce making his ex-wife look like a princess. He has nothing but gracious things to say about people who, at the time, offended him. He places no blame on his upbringing to either his mother or father even though they abdicated their right to raise him. Even discussing the confirmation hearings, he tries very hard not to trash Anita Hill or the senators who attacked him so viciously.

This book is well-written, clear, and uplifting. He shows without slandering how people SHOULD live and what a deception the system we have created is. He talks extensively about his relationship with God and the people in his life who helped him form that relationship. He also states the one thought with which he reviews every single case.

We need more Clarence Thomas’ on judicial benches everywhere. And we need more grandfathers like Myers Anderson raising children today. May ”Daddy” rest in peace and may Clarence Thomas’ time on the bench last for many decades.

Storms

Storms

by Seymour Simon

This book gives a lot of good information and even though it is a reading level 5.7, it could be used for younger children. I would issue a warning though as I have seen some kids just become absolutely paranoid about dark clouds from reading books about storms. In some kids it seems to have the opposite effect to the one desired.

As usual Simon has given a lot of information in just a few pages. He tells about lightning, thunder, cloud formations, squall lines, downdrafts and more in just half the book. The other half is concerned with two of the biggest and most destructive types of storms on the planet–tornadoes and hurricanes.

Simon doesn’t overdo the tornado part of the book and includes some interesting facts such as a train being picked up and put down on another track and facing a different direction and a car being picked up and put back down with no injuries. He does not get into the Fujida scale at all but deals strictly with what a tornado is and how it is believed to be formed then moves on to hurricanes. He does give a chart for the Saffir-Simpson Scale on Hurricanes but doesn’t talk a lot about damage from hurricanes.

He is sensitive to his audience but gives a wealth of good information for middle grades kids in a short amount of time. He has many color photographs in the book, one satellite map, some charts and drawings to illustrate ideas not easily understood by words alone.

This is a great overview to storms, what they are and how they form along with some safety tips but not an end all work and not for every kid. I would also recommend caution when reading books about storms, tornadoes and hurricanes during those seasons of the year as some kids for no known reason just seem to become instantly paranoid about being swept away after reading the books.

Spiders

Spiders

by Seymour Simon

This is not for the squimish nor for the beginning reader. People who have a problem with spiders will never pick this book up because of the cover and if they ever get past the cover the rest of the pictures will make them toss the book and rub their arms. (I have a friend who is terrified of spiders–that’s what they do.) There are close ups of fangs, eyes, and egg sacks. It’s enough to give the most sensitive among us nightmares for years to come.

But, if you are not among the most sensitive and squimish among us, this is a great introduction for middle grade kids. It’s a reading level 5.2 and covers basic knowledge such as there are two basic kinds of spiders–web builders and hunters–and throws in neat information such as how far a jumping spider can actually jump.

This is not the end all book for those who want to know about spiders but for a student who wants to learn a bit beyond the fact that they have eight legs and two body parts, this is a good resource. Lots of feed back type information to build comprehension skills with as well. Mostly color photographs for the illustrations.

Snakes

Snakes

by Seymour Simon

This is not the end all book of snakes for kids but not an early introduction either. Accelerated Reader rates this book as suitable for Middle Grades or about grades 3-8 and as a reading level 5.9 so this may get the interest of many kids but it will be over the heads of beginners especially the vocabulary used in this book like: colubridae, viperidae, elapidae, and ovoviviparous.

This is not to say that this book is highly technical either because it isn’t. This book is just an older kids general introduction into snakes. Suitable for middle school science kids and upper level readers who enjoy being challenged or who are already snake affecienados but who don’t know much about them yet. Not for the serious snake student who wants to know details of individual snakes nor for the beginning reader unless a well-read adult is doing the reading as there is not pronunciation guide with the words.

Fabulous pictures and none of them grossly graphic. These are photographs and not drawings. There are no pictures of partially digested food, mating or mauled or bleeding animals in this book so persons sensitive to those sorts of photographs should have no problem with this book. There is one picture of a snake hatching, however.

A great, general overview to have handy much like an already written report on snakes so, kids, do your homework and write your own.

Silver Boxes

Silver Boxes: The Gift of Encouragement

by Florence Littauer

c. 1989

I first encountered Florence Littauer in her autobiography Behind the Personality and while the beginning made me wonder why I was reading it, I’m so glad I did because it shows what God can do with a life and a marriage that is going rapidly down the tubes.

In this work, Florence uses one verse of scripture Ephesians 4:29 and teaches us how to be encouragers to all around us. She breaks it into little bites of encouragement such as letters, notes, words, and flowers.  She also tells us how to deal with the negatives of encouragement such as when people refuse our compliments or gifts. She gives advice on how we became so discouraged and why we can’t give or accept encouragement.

She spares no one in this work. She tells of her relationship with her son and a trip she deliberately took with him and allowed him to be what she considered to be a “stick in the mud” which gave him the time and confidence to follow the Lord in a path she had not imagined before. She tells of her father’s box of broken dreams that he shared with only her just before he died and what it meant to her to be the one he shared it with. She shows her mother-in-law’s lost dreams and how she only barely came to terms with it but never lost the desire. She also shares the words and feelings of so many people who have heard her speak on this topic.

This would be a wonderful book for a book study group. It’s broken into short-enough chapters to be used for study. Each chapter is also broken into small sections so that this could be used as a personal devotional.

It made me think about all the encouraging words I could speak in a day and also makes me want to go out and buy silver paper and start wrapping boxes.

The Mysterious Cheese Thief

The Mysterious Cheese Thief

by Geronimo Stilton

c. 2007

This edition of Geronimo Stilton goes to the origin of the name Stilton but stops short of explaining why Geronimo’s last name is Stilton.

First, Geronimo receives a visitor who gives him an official document telling him he and his family must change their last name and no longer use the name Stilton. Then, Geronimo’s grandfather takes the family to England in hs camper to explore their roots in the Stilton Cheese area which never happens due to the fact that all the Stilton cheese is being stolen.

Geronimo’s cousin Trap gets into the act by eating every bite of cheese in sight and making it look like it’s all Geronimo’s fault. Then Geronimo gets locked into a cheese factory and encounters the cheese thief. He follows her to her house of cheese and is rescued but somehow she gets away.

The good news about this story is that there is a special section on Stilton Cheese and also a couple of recipes using Stilton Cheese. Also, Geronimo is rewarded for recovering all the stolen cheese (except what Trap ate) by being given the right to call himself a Stilton. A side story reinforces family ties and reconciliation which is a wonderful addition especially in a family that can be as disfunctional as Geronimo’s.

The Mouse Island Marathon

The Mouse Island Marathon

by Geronimo Stilton

c. 2007

I like Geronimo Stilton. He’s a mouse but so is everyone else. He is a newspaper publisher of the most famouse newspaper in all of New Mouse City. His entire world centers on things ending in -mouse and cheese of all sorts. The print is wonderful to read. It’s not all the same color or size nor does it even all flow straight across the page. Some goes in arches and some in circles and some floats off the page. These books also contain lots of illustrations that tie in nicely and are hilarious to look at. Geronimo lives alone but has a sister Thea, a nephew Benjamin (not Thea’s son), an obnoxious cousin Trap, a precious, elderly aunt Sweetfur, and a crochety grandfather William Shortpaws. Geronimo never selects an adventure, they select him.

In this adventure, an extremely out of shape Geronimo is coerced into training for a marathon a “friend” entered him in. Not knowing it is 26 miles, he at first agrees but as time gets closer, our nervous mouse gets…..well, nervous.

Then he discovers where the marathon is going to be held–on the far side of the island where the weather changes with the wind, literally. The south wind brings blazing hot heat, the north wind brings freezing cold and, of course, our hero gets to experience both during the race. Along the way, he also meets an old mouse who tells him not to give up which is the only thing that keeps our hero going even through a fire, an earthquake and a flood (yes, during a 26 mile marathon).

The author adds lots of good information and historical background about the marathon but this is still mostly just a fun, fiction work and not as educational as some of the other Geronimo Stilton books. However, at the end there are suggested activities for any or all of us to get into for better fitness and health.

Fun, silly and funny–vintage Geronimo material.

Down and Out Down Under

Down and Out Down Under

by Geronimo Stilton

c. 2007

I like Geronimo Stilton. He’s a mouse but so is everyone else. He is a newspaper publisher of the most famouse newspaper in all of New Mouse City. His entire world centers on things ending in -mouse and cheese of all sorts. The print is wonderful to read. It’s not all the same color or size nor does it even all flow straight across the page. Some goes in arches and some in circles and some floats off the page. These books also contain lots of illustrations that tie in nicely and are hilarious to look at. Geronimo lives alone but has a sister Thea, a nephew Benjamin (not Thea’s son), an obnoxious cousin Trap, a precious, elderly aunt Sweetfur, and a crochety grandfather William Shortpaws. Geronimo never selects an adventure, they select him.

In this particular Geronimo Stilton adventure, he is hijacked by a lady mouse he has a crush on and taken to Australia. There he sets about seeing the entire continent (including the huge red rock) all in a week. He meets aborigines, gets lost in the woods, learns how to make Australian Bush Bread, and even gets back home to meet his hostess’ family. Not bad for a scardy mouse who hates to fly and just about anything else.

This is not just an adventure work but also contains lots of really good information about Australia and would be a great introduction to a study of Australia for elementary school kids.

Toyin Fay

Toyin Fay

by Verna Allette Wilkins

c. 1996

This is a completely different kind of book. The illustrations are only half illustrated–the rest is photograhed sort of like the type of animation that occurred in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

But the really different part of the book is the storyline. In this work, Toyin Fay is a young fairy applying for the job of tooth fairy. This takes us along the application and interview process in a mythical heavens where teeth are the stars in the sky.

From there we follow her in her first week of work where she picks up teeth sometimes almost getting caught by a parent or pet. She even gets a day off and a set of twins think they have been missed. (Why didn’t I think of that when my kids lost teeth? I was arguably the most forgetful tooth fairy in history.)

It’s an interesting concept and an exploration into the world of make believe but for those who don’t want their kids to believing in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and all their various compadres, this is definitely a book to skip. For the rest of the parents out there, I would read it before reading it to young children or letting lower elemetary children read it. It’s a tad strange.

Library Lil

LIbrary Lil

by Suzanne Williams

Illustrated by Steven Kellogg

c. 1997

Library Lil is not your average librarian. She doesn’t wear her hair in a bun and she doesn’t say “shhhhh” all the time. In fact, she’s the exact opposite of what most people think of as a librarian. She is outrageous. She is exceptionally strong. And she’s the most fun that kids can imagine.

Come meet Library Lil and find out how she not only managed to turn a town from being anti-book to library maniacs but also tamed an entire motorcycle gang and taught them how to read.

Complete with Steven Kellogg’s (of Jimmy’s Boa fame) illustrations, this work is fun and funny. Every kid will wish Library Lil would come to their town in person and never leave.