BIbliography of Suggested Reading for Children

     I LOVED Dr. Dial-Driver's Children's Literature course. This assignment was really difficult, because there are so many wonderful choices to pick from, and we could only use ten examples.

Eastman, P.D. Are You My Mother? 1960. Random House, 1993. 

     A small baby bird gets lost after falling out of his nest, and he has to look for his mother. Once he finds quite a lot of things which are not his mother (including a dog, a cow, and a gigantic Snorting Power Shovel), he gets back home in time for a warm hug from Mom and a yummy worm dinner. 

     This is one of the Beginner Books series, so if your child is learning to read, this would be a good bet. P.D. Eastman’s pictures are spectacular, though, so this would be a great choice to read aloud to toddlers, as would his other books.

Bond, Michael. A Bear Called Paddington. 1958. HarperCollins, 2014.

     This is the first of the Paddington series; each of the chapters-work-as-short-stories variety like P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins books. Paddington is a small bear adopted into a rather bland London family, and he gets usually himself into a variety of strange and sticky situations. Literally sticky situations, since he loves marmalade. However, things always work out in the end.

     I would guess this is written for seven-year-olds just starting to read “big chapter books” on their own. They work well at introducing that indescribable quirky British sense of humor, which is their chief merit. If anthropomorphized animals are not a family’s cup of tea, then they should skip these books.

Barrett, Judi. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Illustrated by Ron Barrett.1978. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1982.

     A grandfather tells his grandchildren a tall tale about the small town of Chewandswallow, which had no grocery stores, because the town got all its food from the sky, because they didn’t have normal weather. Eventually, something went wrong, and terrible storms forced the evacuation of Chewandswallow, because it wasn’t safe to live there any longer, what with the tomato tornadoes and five-ton pancakes.

     Food connects people of all ages, and everyone has their favorite food they wish it would rain (like milkshakes or gumdrops, according to the Barney song.) The pictures add a wonderful dimension to this tale, which I would estimate as appropriate to first introduce anywhere from four to seven, depending on if it were read aloud or not. The imaginative concept appeals to a child’s mindset very well, and it could be used to learn about the different food groups, as well as the idea of tall tales and their history.

Rawls, Wilson. Where the Red Fern Grows. Doubleday, 1961. 

     Billy Coleman lives near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and he diligently saves up for for two years in order to buy a pair of coonhound puppies, which he names Old Dan and Little Ann. His grandpa helps him teach the dogs to hunt raccoons, becoming one of the Ozarks’ most accomplished hunters. After Dan dies following a mountain lion attack, loyal Ann dies from a broken heart, and the Colemans move out of the mountains at Mama’s request, settling in Tulsa.

     The chief heartbreaker of all dog-story-tearjerkers, this ought to be required reading for Oklahoma children due to the local setting. Loyalty is the chief virtue expressed in these pages, though there are many virtues scattered throughout. I was five when I first heard this story, which was plenty old enough to understand it. Wilson Rawls wrote his books for “people,” and hated the idea that publishers marketed them as children’s literature. Therefore everyone ought to read it, as an example of true love and the power of patient hard work.

Wallace, Bill. Upchuck and the Rotten Willy. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1998.

     Chuck, a young orange kitten, has just lost his friend Louie, who got smushed by a car on the highway. And then an enormous monster of a Rottweiler moves in down the road. And then his best friend Tom moves away. And then, to top it all off, his Person Katie moves to somewhere far away and cagelike called “College.” What’s a lonesome, scared cat to do?

     This is a terrific first-person narrative starting around age seven, illustrating well the emotions of life as only Bill Wallace can. It deals with loneliness, abandonment, the changing of life-seasons, in addition to offering some humorous insight on dating and emphasizing the power of friendship, especially the friendship found in overlooked corners.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Shiloh. Atheneum, 1991.

     Eleven-year-old Marty Preston lives in the extremely rural town of Friendly, West Virginia, where he comes across the new beagle of infamous-dog-mistreater Judd Travers. Marty and his little sisters nurse the dog, now called Shiloh, back to health, trying to decide if it’s ethical to steal Shiloh in order to prevent certain future cruelty by Judd.

     This novel is appropriate for readers around nine, because they would likely have a deep bond with their pets by then, and the beginnings of an understanding of empathy and the complexity of this world we live in. The first-person tone draws the reader in, and if he or she is of a writerly turn of mind, they can study how that first-person POV can be used to describe the rural setting, poverty, and ethical dilemmas within. Real life is often very gray, and this novel explains that while keeping a kid-appropriate tone.

Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn. 1935.

     Caddie Woodlawn and her brothers grew up in Wisconsin after their parents moved to Boston, and this novel tells about some of their adventures growing up. It doesn’t really have a plot, but it’s the kind of book that doesn’t really need one.

     This is included because it is clearly historical fiction, as the author makes note of in the introduction, and that is a good genre to be introduced to. She is retelling the childhood of her grandmother, based on the stories that she heard as a child. If Laura Ingalls Wilder is seen as too girlish for boys to think they’d enjoy, this might be a good alternative. Girls could appreciate Caddie’s indecision between wanting to be a tomboy at times, and a lady at other times.  

Sachar, Louis. Holes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

     After being accused of stealing a pair of sneakers, Stanley Yelnats gets sent to a juvenile detention facility in the Texas desert, where he gets to know his coworkers as they dig holes “to build character.”  Interspersed with the mystery that follows is a history of the outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow, a former schoolteacher who turned rogue after her romance with a black man was discovered.

     The braided nature of these interweaving stories is a very interesting stylistic technique to take notice of, and given the complexity of the issues raised (mainly juvenile delinquency, the justice system and interracial relationships) I would say a reader should be around eleven or twelve before tackling this one. Those subjects are handled in an age-appropriate way, but given the general meanness of the characters to survive, some thick skin must have already been developed.

Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. 1883.

     A retelling, perhaps the first aimed at children, of the legendary antiheroic character of Robin Hood, from his first coming to Sherwood Forest to his death by treacherous arrow. Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and the Sherriff of Nottingham are all here, as well, as is King Richard the Lion-Hearted.

      What kid doesn’t like adventure? Pyle’s book abounds with it, though the reading difficulty might present problems unless the reader was an especially-determined nine-year-old. This would be a good candidate to read aloud for younger children, giving a chance to practice comprehension skills by asking them to summarize the action at various points throughout each chapter.  

Neville, Emily. It’s Like This, Cat. Illustrated by Emil Weiss. 1963.

     This Newbery Award winner tells how a 14-year-old named Dave deals with problems of early teenagerdom, including hero worship, fights with his father and first love. His cat, who was given to him by a family friend named Kate, serves as a sounding board in figuring out all these problems.

      This would be appropriate for readers about eleven, I would estimate, because parents aren’t perfect, and they have as many flaws as anyone. There are scenes of smoking, if I remember right, some interest is taken of the opposite sex, and the characters wander around New York City entirely unsupervised a vast majority of the time. Knowing some history of what was going to happen later in this decade, this novel gives a better picture of the day-to-day life of those growing up in this era, and reminds readers that human nature is much the same everywhere. The first-person narration is used well to highlight the urban setting, providing literary-minded readers a glimpse (especially in contrast with Shiloh) of how the basic tools of writing can be used in interesting ways. 

About "Space Jam"

     For Dr. Mackie's Creative Nonfiction, this prompt was to write about one of our favorite movies.

     There are a lot of movies I love, that I’ve learned a lot of storytelling technique from by repeatedly studying them. Unfortunately, they usually tend to get blow aside as either “low production quality” or “kids movies” or something like that. And sure, they aren’t all masterpieces. In fact, they usually tangle themselves into pretzels that defy any one genre, skipping easily through several, and meaning every one. Movies like The Princess Bride; is it an adventure? A fantasy? A romance? A satire? A fairy tale? It’s all of those, and it’s honest about being all of those things. The Big Green is a 90’s sports movie, certainly. But it’s also about hope, the job of teaching, the power of small-town community and an interesting conundrum of illegal immigration. Space Jam is the one I’m going to talk about for this assignment, though.

     A diabolical theme-park owner named Swackhammer sends a group of tiny aliens called Nerdlucks to capture the Looney Tunes in order to enslave them and increase attendance. The Looney Tunes come up with an escape plan by challenging the diminutive Nerdlucks to a basketball game. However, the Nerdlucks steal the talent of NBA superstars, transforming themselves into the terrifying Monstars. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan has retired from basketball to try playing professional baseball in order to make good on a promise he made as a child to his father. So Bugs, Daffy, Elmer and the rest kidnap Michael to get him to help win the game. The Looney Tunes defeat the evil aliens, the NBA players get their talent back, and Michael Jordan decides he’s terrible at baseball and goes back to the Chicago Bulls to win another couple championships. That’s pretty much the entire plot.

     On some level, it could be called historical fiction, given that it explains Michael Jordan’s first retirement to try (and fail at) playing professional baseball. Of course the reasoning was changed, as this decision remains somewhat in mystery, though it likely had something to do with his father’s murder and outrageous gambling debts. On another level, it’s an extended screwball comedy, since it features most of the classic Looney Tunes characters going through their daily lives. And then there is the science-fiction part of the story, since aliens blast onto Earth in order to enslave the inhabitants. And oh, yeah, it’s a sports movie on top of everything else, with cameos from most of the top players of the time, and featuring Bill Murray and Danny DeVito for good measure. If a cynical viewpoint was to be taken, it could be said that this movie was made solely for advertising merchandise. And it was, of course; even the characters mention this. But it doesn’t take itself seriously, while fully admitting that none of these rules it’s following make any sense. Because of this, it works. This could be because a more three-year-old Wesley-approved movie could not have been made if it were manufactured for me alone in mind, but this report doesn’t have to be subjective. The greatest basketball player in the world is teaming up with Bugs Bunny to save the world from a bunch of aliens. Yes, please!

     It came to theaters when I was three, and while I don’t think I remember watching it in theaters, Mom said I hid in her lap when the Monstars first appeared. I also know that I saw it for the first time in the theater because she says we were grocery shopping one day not long after and I recognized a song the PA system was playing(R. Kelly’s “Fly Like an Eagle” or Seal’s “Fly Like an Eagle” cover) as being from the movie, which she then recognized after I urgently explained the connection. I can also clearly remember dancing maniacally to the soundtrack in one of the apartments we lived in. The soundtrack has Bugs Bunny doing a rap song, of all the insane experiences worth listening to at least once. There are the detractors who gleefully point out all the paper-thin plotting, the lack of acting ability from Jordan, or complain that the Tunes themselves act nothing like themselves. Have they watched some of those shorts in a while? The Tunes can be mean, and there can be sex jokes hidden in many of them.

     Lola Bunny is an original character expressly designed to give Bugs a love interest, less-than-expressly to sell merchandise, and possibly to give girls a role model of Bugs’ standing to admire. I think all of those goals were met. The appeal of Lola was obvious: she was fantastic at basketball, and independent and determined. Besides that, she became the girlfriend of Bugs Bunny, so that automatically got about a thousand bonus points. (I hung out with teenagers all the time, so some of their attitudes I must have picked up by osmosis.) “She’s hot!” Tweety says. Feminists can complain that she never really does anything – and they kind of have a point – but that’s missing the point, really. In the first place, the story is balanced the way it is already, and to shift anything would have thrown everything out the window. Secondly – and this is by far the most important – was the purpose of the story wasn’t to create a masterpiece, it was to fire the imagination, one of the highest callings I can think of for story in any medium. So Lola isn’t exactly much else than a bit of cheerleading damsel in distress in the movie. In kids’ imaginations, she played a bigger role; maybe she single-handedly saved everyone. Maybe she and Bugs went on dates and antagonized Elmer Fudd together. Anything was possible. And the thing is, that same principle applies to every single character. All those gaps in the movie can be filled in by each viewer, bringing them into the story like few others can match.

     Obviously people can’t be squashed flat into a pancake and reinflated, lassoed through golf holes, dynamite can’t be used to blow up the backboard, and arms don’t stretch like rubber bands for thirty feet. But this is Looney Tune Land, and so that’s all fine and dandy. After all, if trains can pummel Yosemite Sam and Wile E. Coyote can fall prey to goodness-knows-what perils from ACME, then all these Space Jam quirks are fine. They’re animated, and they know it. Depth perception doesn’t exist, so all kinds of adventures can happen. (This doesn’t work quite as well in 3-D Land, unfortunately.) A story usually covers the same welcoming (because it is well-trodden) plot, and so we learn to recognize these details and find comfort in their sameness.

     The familiar threads of story material are easily recognizable; the average townspeople need the stranger to come in and save the day from a force of marauding evil. This stranger has to face his past and overcome it in order to vanquish the threat. The stakes are dire. The average townsperson has friends and a lovely lady to back up his efforts to fight the threat courageously; indeed, all the townspeople exhibit immense courage and fortitude. In the end, through seemingly impossible odds, the threat is defeated. Everything goes well from there (that we know of). There. Now what movie (or book) did I just describe? It could have been nearly any Clint Eastwood movie, it could’ve been It’s a Wonderful Life, it could’ve been Pixar, it could’ve been Much Ado About Nothing. In the same way, a sport of almost any kind is a comforting thing, because there is a fixed set of expectations and outcomes, with a bewildering amount of variation possible within those set guidelines. One team will always win, the other will lose. The basketball will not be kicked, and it will go through the basket. Even though it’s a movie, and therefore prone to break the rules a little in order to create more dramatic tension, all that excitement of the movie is enhanced by knowing the framework the scene of the climatic showdown is staying within.

     This could go on for a while, but I should really wrap this up now so it doesn’t stretch on for thirty-plus pages (because it totally could). I love Space Jam because it fires the imagination and acknowledges that anything could happen. Are their imperfections? Yeah, all those critics have some good points. But they are forgetting that at the core, the movie has “it. Whatever ‘it’ is, you’ve got a lot of it,” Michael tells the Tunes on leaving. I would call this “heart.” 

Time Compression Experiment

     For Dr. Mackie's Creative Nonfiction course, this assignment was from a less-than-helpful textbook titled Tell It Slant. We were supposed to take a mundane experience and compress multiple instances of that incident into one bizarre stew. So I chose a typical Sunday morning at church.

     “How are you doing?” Sam asks after we show up to church half an hour late for Sunday school – again. It’s been another rough week, and I guess she can see that, even if she wasn’t one of the few people my armor will let inside to see the real me.

Mrs. Ferguson is standing nearby, leaning against the Grace and Truth bookshelf to relieve back pain from her ninth pregnancy. Her oldest daughter Kerra’s married now, and Josh soon will be, it looks like from the grapevine.

     “Um…I’m all right, I’m fine,” I say.

     “And by that, he means it’s hell,” Mrs. Ferguson grins, and she lumbers down toward the kitchen. Sam crushes me in a gigantic hug, pulling away after our youth pastor Steven coughs.

     “Your eyes said more than your words.” Her voice has a quiet undertone. 

     “Thanks.”

     “Sorry to hear about Sunny,” Steven says. “Losing a dog is tough.” 

     “It’s all right. She was old, and arthritic, and nearly blind, and –“ I bolt for the kitchen. I need coffee if I’m going to stay awake during Marie’s dad’s sermon from the Gospel of John.

     There are a lot of empty spaces in the pews; what with the mass exodus and all. It wasn’t even orchestrated, really, not that anyone could tell. Just one family leaves for some legitimate reason, then another, and then another, and it’s like Welll…who’s left? Not the DeSpains, or the Buckmasters, or the Lawsons (and Cassie’s at OU now, anyway, so it’s not like we can chat about writing). Mr. Gundersen’s been thinking of taking a long-term trip to his vacation house in the Arkansas Ozarks, and he can’t really be blamed for needing the rest, though it is kind of worrisome. It will take a while to stop thinking of him as the pastor, since he stepped down from that role last month.

     In the prayer requests it looks like Justin Selby just blew up his hand with some fireworks, I bet Melody was worried sick. Marie is mentioned again as needing prayer…that’s not a surprise to any of us who were in the youth group. She was just lacking – It, whatever that was. We all knew that she would be eaten alive once she was out on her own. And there were a lot of problems each of us were dealing with, just trying to keep ourselves together and reasonably in one piece to get through high school and slowly progress through college. Lots of people’s parents dying from cancer, which is horrible. Dad’s out of a job again, which is somehow normal. Dylan’s working on a ranch in Wyoming over the summer, so pray for safety for him, and peace of mind for his parents. He’s doing all right, though it can get lonely up there, from what I’ve heard. But he’ll be okay.

     Hymns we’ll be singing today, hmm… “In Christ Alone,” that’s a great one, of course, wasn’t it ages ago that I learned that? Feels like it. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” that’s one we forget to ponder too often. “How Firm a Foundation” is another great choice. Bennett and Laura are doing a fantastic job on guitar and piano – it was always fun when Laura filled in for Josh when we were leading the youth group’s worship music, she played at a fast enough pace that my strumming didn’t sound like I was rushing things.

Rags will be sad that I have to immediately head back to school, but cats can’t rule the world like they think they can. Finish revising/updating that story where they try to, if there’s time. Then SWAT has a special rehearsal for the show Wednesday night, and there’s volleyball practice after the Monday night worship service, with the state BCM tournament coming up next weekend. Note to self, check to make sure everyone brings their scripts just in case they need them. Okay, then – not ready for this next week up ahead, but here goes.

     This was a weird experiment, kind of like I was consciously constructing a dream, given the wild mishmash of events and the blurry first-person stream-of-consciousness narration. Maybe I should have chosen “a typical Sunday morning at church” for the event to condense. But there was plenty of material to choose from – that’s one of the good things about going to the same church for fourteen years. The bad thing can be that the ghosts of those gone, or of events past, can sometimes pop up and dominate the scene in real life. So they don’t need any encouragement, swirling the history all together into a McFlurry (do those still exist?) like this assignment asked for.

     The prompt asked what we gained and lost by this experiment. I’d say that I recognized again what a rough couple of years our church has been through, with nearly every family going through at least one or two chronic-stress events. There was a lot of trials and characters that were left out of this sketch, of course – it asked for a compliation of a typical event. Not everything fits. And though the facts have been chewed though a blender, as far as chronology and everything, I think the tone was kept, more or less. I don’t really like this piece, but some writing one likes and some is just to beat the deadline. The honesty was stripped away, by mangling the timeline, and that kills the spirit, even if the style can produce interesting and sometimes pretty effects like CDs when microwaved.