this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2007 January.

I have a new post up!

This is why I no longer take down my blog when I quit blogging — it has yet to stick.

I have a question for y’all based on the last entry. What great books from your childhood have you reread with horror? You know, like the Little House books, which are still totally awesome, swell books but also have these dark chapters of awful racism that maybe as a kid you didn’t cringe quite the way you did as an adult? For me the big one was Mary Poppins because I truly thought we were safe and then we oh so weren’t.

I can find lots and lots and lots and lots and lots (this last link is my favorite) of great multicultural books for kids but I have yet to see a good list of books I thought I loved and maybe I still love but there are parts I want to be reminded about so I can introduce them appropriately. I thought it would be a useful list for other parents about to snuggle up with their kidlings and a good book and want to be forewarned so they aren’t caught hemming and hawing when they turn the page to something surprising.

For KimKim:
I have this one big idea that’s the thesis of the book, which I’m not sure is specific enough or not. And I’m not sure there’s enough to write about it. I am working on it a little bit everyday but there are a few other things I want to write that sometimes push it aside and then I’ve got work-for-pay stuff that takes precedence. But I notice that making time to work out makes me feel way more focused and less frantic about running out of time.

Re., Chapter Books:
I remember trying to find chapter books that made for great read-alouds. We wanted high quality literature (or at least not junk), with short chapters and nothing too scary (because Noah was easily scared). There were quite a few books that we started and then stopped because he wasn’t ready for them including the Ramona books (chapters were too long but he has read all of Beverly Cleary’s stuff since and loves her), Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (again, loves them now but wasn’t interested at five or six) and my beloved Moomins. First chapter books were a popular topic at playdates, too, so I’ll tell you what we liked and I’ll tell you what some other friends liked (including a few books that totally didn’t work for us but were really successful with other families we know):

• My Father’s Dragon (and its two sequels) were HUGELY popular with both Noah and me and with every other kid I know who read them. They are fast, fast to read and there are enough pictures to keep even antsy kids interested. I can’t say enough about these books — Noah wanted me to read them to him for a long, long time. To me these are the BEST first chapter books I know.
• Jenny and the Cat Club (also lots of sequels including the easier to find used The Hotel Cat) You may know The Fire Cat already but there is a whole series of Cat Club books that are fabulous. Again, quick reading and pictures. I loved these as a kid and was so excited to see they’d been reprinted so that I could revisit them with Noah. They are — happily — just as good as I remember.
• Catwings These are tiny little books that a friend recommended having fond memories of them herself. We only read two of them (I think there are four) and truthfully, Noah liked the first one better and was a little tired of them by the time we got halfway through the second. I think this says more about Noah’s tastes than it does about the books.
• Billy and Blaze This is a popular series with conservative homeschoolers because they’re very wholesome and old-fashioned. I picked up four at a library sale and Noah ate ‘em up. Me, I coulda skipped ‘em.
• Here Comes Tricky Rabbit This is a collection of Native American trickster tales that were just perfect for Noah at five-ish. We read and re-read this book and it’s still one of his favorites. (Cousin Frankie loved this book, too.)
• No Flying in the House Every family should have a copy of this book and happily it’s kinda easy to find at garage sales and thrift shops. This is a book you may have read and then forgot about it. It’s about a little girl who’s half-fairy (she can kiss her elbow — that’s how she knows) and who is being minded by a tea-cup sized dog named Gloria. Sound familiar?
• Milly-Molly-Mandy Ok, I couldn’t stand these books (or Snip-Snap-Snur or Flicka-Ricka-Dicka — even though those last two are unrelated to that first one but the tongue-twisting names all mesh them together in my head) because they make Raggedy Ann and Andy (stories that Noah DID like) seem positively cynical. I mean, they are treacle with a capital T. But I have two families of friends who swear by them and worship at the altar of Milly-Molly-Mandy (and Snip-Snap-Snur and Flicka-Ricka Dicka). Those last two are also hugely popular among Waldorfers of my acquaintance.

The worst thing is opening up a book I remember from childhood with great tenderness and finding out that memory conveniently left out the part where Pa (in Little Town on the Prairie) dresses like a “darky” or that Mary Poppins is hanging out at the South Pole with some black folks eating watermelon who advise her to put some shoe polish on those white babies. Raggedy Ann has some stories to skip and Dr. Dolittle has a whole chapter that’s best left alone. Personally I think there’s educational value in reading those books with your kids and talking about the racist (and sexist) stereotypes but not at bedtime when you’re just trying to send the kids off to sleep with a nice story. So my last piece of advice is to always BUT ALWAYS read (or re-read) the book yourself before reading it to (or handing it to) your kids.

That’s all the books I can think of without getting my sorry tush up off this chair and digging through Noah’s bookshelves. What else have people liked when it comes to starting off with chapter books? Oh and I also highly recommend the Chinaberry catalog for finding books for whatever age. I have a friend who uses this catalog as a self-counseling tool. Seriously — she reads it whenever she’s depressed!

So I will blog without thinking. I don’t even have anything to say — I’m just taking a break from writing book reviews. I’m not getting anywhere on essays really but I have writing group on Tuesday and I’m hoping that someone’s got some useful stuff to say for the one in-progress that I shared. I should have shared two because I’m thinking of winding a second narrative into this first one but I forgot and now I’d be cutting it too close.

Madison has a cold and is a snotty, miserable mess. Noah is coming down off two slumber parties in a row and several more upcoming (January is birthday month in our world with March running a close second).

Does anybody have anything they want me to talk about? I’m running short on blogging inspiration, which is ok with me but if there’s something I should blog about, I’d be happy to oblige.

1. Both American Family and Paige got their referrals this week! It will be Mondo Baby Universe come spring (if we can keep Paige from moving away)!

2. I had a good interview with a contracting agency on Tuesday and am now on their books for work. (Must burn more incense in my money bagua.)

3. I decided to keep my career focus on a couple of markets that I would love to be in and that I feel would benefit me long-term (i.e., no more Home Appliance magazine just because the pay per word is good). I just got an acceptance from the first market on my list! (I decided to keep my head down and hammer on one market at a time so this also means I’m free to target the next market sooner than I expected.)

4. I heard back from the interested agent about my proposal and she is still interested and had some constructive critiques that showed that my instincts were right and have given me the impetus to push forward in that direction. (Although it’s a lot more work than the original project it is also closer to the project I’d want to write. Now I have stage-fright.)

I feel a bit tremulous so I’m going to go work out.