Maurice Sendak and Leo Dillon : a tribute

Two notable illustrators, both Caldecott award winners, passed away this month. One is also a writer, and almost a household name for those who know their picture books. Maurice Sendak, who passed away on 8th May 2012 at the age of 83 and Leo Dillon who passed away yesterday, 30th May 2012 at the age of 79..

Do a google-search for Maurice Sendak, and the first few links thrown up (other than the recent obits) will be for his Caldecott winner book Where the Wild Things Are (1963) This book, along with In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside Over There (1981), formed a sort of trilogy. I say a 'sort of trilogy' because they do not comprise parts of a contiguous story. Authored and illustrated by him.

All of these can be read aloud to children as young as 3 years old, and older. The kind of classics that can be read over and over again, well into adulthood and beyond, and we can gain at every reading. They deal with the dark side of little children, the side that is real, but which we, as a society, are often in denial about. Or if we do recognise it, we can only deal it by doling out punishment. When all it takes is a little bit of validation from a parent, and treating it as the grey area that it is. After all, all human beings have some good along with some bad. Grown-ups are just that much more able to keep it in check.

Published by HarperTrophy 

 Max is your regular, mischievous little boy, with an active imagination, and a penchant for getting into trouble. Sent one day to his room without any supper. A room that magically transformed into a forest- where the wild things were! Giving Max a chance to work off his angry feelings. A chance to send these wild things off to bed without there supper. Letting him come back to the reality of the safety of his room and a hot supper; the parent too has had a chance to cool off!

Sounds familiar? The book has been made into a lovely movie, that reads between the lines of the very spare text, and gives us the back story on Max. Watched it recently on DVD, and is worth every rupee spent on it!

Published by Red Fox books
Random House

I was reminded of the chapter in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' as I read this one. The way, we are told, of handling the boggart that frightens you, is to laugh at it, to recognise the ridiculous in it - which changes it to something we can have control over.

Children are characteristically afraid of the dark, and of things that go 'bump' in the night. In this story, we see Mickey coming face-to-face with his fears - of the dark, and of being mixed into the batter for tomorrow's cake and baked - and his gaining of an upper hand. Happens a lot of time, doesn't it? Maybe a story that the child has read/ has been read to, or something that it has seen or heard, gets into the dark recesses of the subconscious, only to surface in a dream. Happens to us adults too!

Published by Red Fox books
Random House 

Which first-born child hasn't wished the next-born away? There is no doubting the bond between siblings, but there is always sibling rivalry. Ask any parent of more than one child.

Ida has been asked to keep an eye on her little sister while her mother is a little busy. Something that she does because she has to do.

"Ida played her wonder horn to rock the baby still - but never watched."

The goblins come in and snatch the baby away. So now Ida goes to the rescue. She goes all the way outside over there, where the goblins have taken her baby sister away, tricks the goblins, and gets the baby back home.

Here is a review of another notable book by him at Saffrontree.

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Our other Caldecott winner is Leo Dillon, who is one half of a team with his illustrator wife, Diane Dillon. Their illustrations are larger than life, with a lot of detail, rooted in African culture. The couple is the only recipient of the award two years in a row.

The first was awarded in 1976 for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears,  reviewed here on Saffrontree by Tharini. (Do click on the link to read). We loved this tale from West African folklore, which goes on and on from one animal to another, in the fashion of a neverending tale, coming full circle finally to the mosquito.

Their book that won the Caldecott the following year, 1977, is
Ashanti to Zulu : African Traditions.
Written by Margaret Musgrove
Published by Puffin Pied Piper
Ages: 8+

An alphabet book with a difference - for older children who already know their alphabet. The book takes one African tribe for each alphabet, and gives us a peek into their culture, traditions, lifestyle and history. With vibrant, richly detailed illustrations.

As we read through the book, we realise how varied life is for people fairly close in geography, and yet human beings are so much the same all over the world.

Two more books illustrated by the couple have been reviewed on Saffrontree here and here. Do hop over and read.

Pics courtesy flipkart. Crossposted here.       

Three Avatars of Cinderella

By total coincidence we read three versions of Cindy's tale today. Read on to find out more!

Shirley Hughes' Ella's Big Chance

The illustrations alone are worth whatever you pay for this book, and much more. We are die-hard Shirley Hughes fans so this might be a tad biased, but really check it out for yourself and then judge me!
In this variant of the fairytale, Ella Cinders lives happily with her father and their assistant Buttons in their dress shop. Till the father remarries, and the nasty new mom is plain awful to her. She does not allow the poor girl to attend the duke's ball and as per the original tale a fairy godmother appears to set things right. All proceeds per plan, except the end has a twist - Ella realises that Buttons has stood by her at all times and chooses him over the duke.
Clearly we have a special spot for stories with spunky heroines (see Exhibit A) and this one has our favourite illustrator/author refashioning a traditional story into one that has an end with a heart. We like!

Dahl's Revolting Rhymes

Set in rhyme with a wicked twist, Dahl has reworked fairy tales with his trademark humour. Cinderella thus goes to the ball as she is supposed to, rushes back at the strike of the clock at midnight and loses her glass slipper and the rest of the jazz. However the prince is a bit of a meanie - he chops off her stepsisters' heads without so much as a moment's thought, just because they did not agree with him. Cinderella feels she should marry a nicer man and the Fairy Godmother gladly obliges by proffering to her precisely such a specimen - a good-hearted jam-maker, and they live together happily ever after eating lots of home-made marmalade. A delicious tale indeed!




Laurence Anholt's Cinderboy (part of Seriously Silly Stories)

This is pretty much the original version with a small (not) twist - just switch genders! So Cinderboy is the sad little case with a heartless step-family. They all love football and support the home team - Royal Palace United. The step-dad and step-sibs go to watch the much-awaited finals of a football match series while Cinderboy is ordered to stay at home tidying the mess the others made. A TV Godmother appears to help the weeping Cinderboy and rescues not just him but also the home team from losing - and no prizes for guessing who it is who saves the day! The glass slipper in the original story is a glass studded football shoe here and the fairy's wand is the TV remote! A sure chuckle-inducer!


ETA: Another version I'd like to check out some time - Seriously. Cinderella is SO Annoying!

The Joy of Fairy Tales

Pic courtesy amazon.co.uk

The Joy of Fairy Tales
Compiled and edited by Gill Davies
Published by Worth Press Ltd.
Ages 8+

Imagine a book that has one mesmerised as soon as one picks it up. Makes one forget that one is not a child anymore. One that makes you want to just sit with it and read and read and read. The moment I picked this book up at the bookstore, I knew I could not let it go.

Appealing to children and adults alike, the book is a smorgasbord of fairy tales from all over the world, with snippets of trivia in the margins - European, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African, Australian, Russian, Aborigine...you name it.

There are tales as old as the Arabian nights, tales re-told from mythology and folklore. There are tales as new as those from J.K.Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard.

There are tantalising excerpts from magical books like The Wizard of Oz, Gulliver's Travels, Lewis Caroll's Alice books, E. Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet, Kipling's Just So Stories, The Princess and the Goblin, even Shakespeare.

We also have the usual suspects like Hans Christian Anderson, the Grimm brothers, Charles Perrault, and Andrew Lang. As also magical poetry by the likes of Edward Lear, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Shakespeare, and that tantalising poet - Anonymous, and many more.

Think that is a long list? Just the contents of this 766 page book runs into 16 pages. We also have an extensive bibliography for those interested in more reading, short biographies of all the authors and illustrators (the illustrations alone are worth picking up the book for- each tale comes with the original illustrations it was first published with) featured.

For those interested in the evolution of the fairytale, there is a detailed timeline of fairytales and folktales through history, from all continents - right from the ancient Sumerian epic tale of Gilgamesh c. 2000 BCE to Harry Potter. As also links from that modern magic wand- the internet.

As the editor says in an afterword: "So here is a book to treasure...through its pages the reader can discover how ancient folk tales and legends developed, changed and spread - and how in their re-telling they became the familiar stories we know today." Not just another anthology.

A and I have been dipping into it at all through the vacation. Perfect for bed-time reading.

Crossposted here.

The Twenty-One Balloons

The Twenty-One Balloons
 Written and Illustrated by William Pene du Bois
 First published in 1947 Puffin Books, USA (numerous editions available)
Winner of the Newbery medal
Suggested age group: 12+

It is the year 1883 and William Sherman, a retired schoolmaster from San Francisco, having been found adrift in the Atlantic, then rescued by a passing ship finally arrives in New York to a delighted if somewhat mystified reception. And therein begins William Pene du Bois equally intriguingly titled book, ‘The Twenty-one Balloons’.

William Sherman had originally set off from his home town of San Francisco, intending to live a life of peace and contentment in a balloon that he had designed himself. And yet he was found in an ocean on the continent's other side and everyone including this reader soon becomes most agog to hear his story. Sherman however takes his time telling it and Pene Du Bois makes the wait well worth it and very humorous. Sherman will not tell his story to anyone, not even the President or any other important official but only to the society that sponsored and was responsible for his balloon and his maiden voyage. So the build-up to the great revelation takes days and immense preparation. The presidential train is sent to escort Sherman home, the streets of San Francisco are decorated with specially prepared balloons with some unforeseen consequences and Sherman arrives to give his lecture in a giant sized auditorium, reclining on the most comfortable bed imaginable (for he needs the rest), pandered to by the high officials of the city.

 Set in the 1880s, Sherman’s adventure comes at a time when the enthusiasm and the dream to make humans fly saw several innovations and inventions. It had been almost a hundred years since the Montgolfier brothers had sent up their balloon in France; it would be just twenty years more and the Wright brothers would make their first flight on a light plane they had designed in their bicycle shed. It is in 1883 that the volcano of Krakatoa in the Indonesian Islands erupted with a ferocity never seen before. And Sherman’s story, as du Bois tells us, is linked to this eruption as well, and how he and the other interesting inhabitants of Krakatoa, make a timely escape in twenty one balloons. The number is important in the telling of the tale. 

For time-travel, the flying machine is a useful, all-purposeful contrivance. My interest in reading this book was precisely because Atisa, a character I created, travels in different historical periods, in a flying machine gifted to him by the mythical inventor, Daedelus. Sherman’s balloon while it doesn’t travel back, takes us to a different world altogether – that of Krakatoa. It comes alive in the lovely black and white illustrations done by du Bois himself. It isn’t just a dangerous island with a deceptive volcano, but one peopled with fascinating characters, as inventive as they are secretive. It’s a book that is full of their amazing inventions, the unusual community life they have created, and how they try to cope with the volcano’s unexpected eruption. A book that’s also full of history and also science, amazing and very chuckle-inducing to the very end. (ends)

Un Lun Dun

    

Un Lun Dun

Written and Illustrated by China Miéville

Pan Books

 Winner of the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book, 2008.

China Miéville, one of the most acclaimed writers of speculative fiction in recent times, is best known for the bleak, dystopic worlds he creates in his books. I discovered him after reading ‘Kraken’, a dark and gripping tale of a London under siege from rival gangs of supernatural forces fighting for control of – wait for it! – a gigantic pickled squid in the British Museum. After that surprising take on Cthulhu, I went on to read his short stories and am slowly working my way through the Bas-Lag trilogy – all of it impressive, but undeniably dark, disturbing and exhausting.  Imagine my surprise, therefore, to discover “Un Lun Dun”, a YA fantasy  by the creator of all that baroque grimness. It is a wild, whacky pun-a-minute tale with  a crackling pace, and is definitely one of the most inventive books I’ve read in a while, as it busies itself with cheerfully subverting just about every trope you can think of in the YA fantasy genre - starting with  the Chosen One.

It’s just another day in the life of twelve year old London schoolgirl Zanna Moon – until animals start paying her homage, and perfect strangers approach her and call her “Shwazzy”. With best friend Deeba  Resham  by her side, Zanna  finds out that “Shwazzy” may in fact be “choici” – French for “the chosen one.” Soon after, Zanna and Deeba travel through a mysterious portal to UnLondon , a bizarre alternate version (or ‘abcity’) of the metropolis  they call home, peopled by some of the most inventive characters to have graced fantasy fiction in recent years. Zanna’s glorious destiny is revealed to her, and she steps forward to claim it. And why not ? She is tall, blonde, striking looking, and singled out by UnLondon’s  book of prophecies – enough, by the usual rules of popular kidlit, to justify her place in history. Right?

Wrong.

For Zanna is vanquished in her very first brush with the evil plaguing UnLondon – Smog, a poisonous sentient cloud  banished from London, that is bent on consuming everything in its path before moving back home.  What now, you ask. Why, time for the loyal sidekick to step forward and get her moment in the light. For as UnLondon quails in the wake of Zanna’s failure, it is unassuming Deeba – short! dark! plump!Asian!! – who steps forward to shoulder Zanna’s responsibility when no one else will. Faced with an entire city of strange creatures whose very leaders seem to be conspiring against them, a bunch of prophecies that progressively turn out to be wrong, and even high level intrigue from the human world ,  Deeba  becomes the UnChosen One.

Leading a band of some of the most unlikely warriors to grace the pages of an adventure story – a couturier with a penchant for paper, a sarcastic half-ghost who periodically goes nude, a bungee-jumping bus conductor , an animated milk carton, even the aforementioned Book of Prophecies who spends most of the book in depression before finally redeeming itself – Deeba sets out  to defeat Smog and his cronies. Along the way, she strikes a blow for the marginalized and voiceless as well – repeatedly through the book, we find her inspiring all manner of enslaved critters to liberate themselves. And even as she discovers the hero within herself, she inspires her ragtag crew to do the same as well for, by the time the final confrontation trundles around (the one trope Miéville is happy to pay homage to) they have evolved from scared and skeptical sidekicks into valiant  individuals in their own right.

Un Lun Dun is frequently funny, sometimes sad and always breath-taking in its imagery and wordplay. Sample -  an army of dustbins adept at martial arts called, quite aptly, binja. Skool, who isn’t a person at all but a group of plucky fish populating an ancient diver’s costume.  A Manifest Station that takes citizens of UnLondon to  other abcities like Parisn’t, NoYork, Lost Angeles, Hong Gone. Entire houses made of human rubbish , using MOIL technology (Mildly Obsolete in London).  Words  literally coming to life when uttered by the fantastic Mr. Speaker. And did I mention the carnivorous giraffes? Miéville doesn’t just create these strange and wonderful creatures – he draws them for us as well. Un Lun Dun contains some excellent black and white drawings, made by the author himself, that bring some of his weirder creations to life. 

If you’ve worked your way through the Harry Potter series, or the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman, this is a book you will enjoy. It is a book brimming with ideas, surprises and wit.   Gaiman fans might draw parallels to London Below, the weird citadel under London’s streets that features in ‘Neverwhere’. Indeed, Miéville acknowledges both the series and its author in the afterword to this book. But rest assured, Un Lun Dun is entirely child appropriate and  far more cheerful and wholesome than Gaiman’s (or even Rowling's)  vision. It is not childish, however; Miéville weaves in a lot of sub text and some astute political commentary.

Foremost of these is, of course, the whole idea of a child hero predestined to save the world. Nonsense, says Miéville. The best heroes aren’t born that way;  they are ordinary people who risk their necks for a cause that they may not even believe in at first. By the end of Un Lun Dun, practically everyone of its citizens – not to mention umbrellas, fish and ghosts - feels like a  Shwazzy.  The choice of an Asian girl as hero had me huzzah-ing  - especially one so devoid of the cultural stereotypes that continue to plague mainstream Western fiction . Miéville, a noted socialist, takes some potshots at British bureaucracy as well. He gives both Londons incompetent and manipulative bureaucracies to deal with.  People in power deliberately side with Smog, others try to strike deals with it. The Concern, a shadowy group of individuals trying to profit from the presence of Smog is clearly a caricature of the carbon emissions trade. There is even a  sharp take on the racism that  tinged  Western anti terrorism measures  post 9/11 - a bunch of policemen from London attempt to arrest Deeba for being a terrorist (because she ‘terrifies’ a corrupt official), and threaten to harass her family in London if she resists.

It’s hard to miss Un Lun Dun’s  environmental message either – London may think it is rid of Smog and all its rubbish simply because these have been sent to UnLondon. But Smog clearly has other plans. Sooner or later, Miéville seems to warns us, your rubbish will return to consume you.

So recycle.  Walk to work. Be your own Shwazzy.  And if unconventional fantasy is your thing, read Un Lun Dun.

Image 


Crossposted  here

Brontorina

Brontorina

Author- James Howe

Illustration- Randy Cecil

Candlewick Press

Ages 4-8

An imaginative tale, the book gets straight to the point.

It opens with the unexpected situation of a huge dinosaur, named Brontorina Apatosaurus approaching a local ballet school to learn- what else- ballet.

Brontorina is faced with two immediate problems- how will she fit (in) and how will she find shoes her size.

You see the exaggerated contrast between her and the rest of the class including the teacher,Madame Lucille.

But she dispalys that she is undoubtedly talented and graceful. Filled with lively pictures that seamlessly goes with the text, the pirouettes by Brontorina actually seem real.

Her gigantic size soon presents problems in the inadequate studio and the other students are also inconvenienced by Brotorina's presence.

When it dawns on Brontorina that the studio cannot contain her and she will have to discontinue learning dance, she is heart broken. Another rising issue surfaces- which male dancer will be able to lift her while dancing?

How she surmounts the odds ( with some help from her champions, Clara and Jack and the thoughtful teacher) forms the rest of this humorously endearing story. The book does show the struggle that comes with being different, but also reinforces that you can follow your dream even if you do not quite fit it.

And if you are wondering how exactly it ends, let us just say it is uplifting in every sense of the word.

Curious Creatures in Peculiar Places

Written and illustrated by Amy Goldman-Koss
Price Stern Sloan, Los Angeles
Ages 5+

The resident 4 year old loves non-fiction, and tales set in verse. This book with non-fiction in verse combines two of his loves and naturally, is a big hit.

Each double page spread is devoted to one creature, with a brightly colored full-page illustration on the left, and text in verse on the right. Each poem is the perfect length to hold the interest of young readers. There are fourteen in all, from all seven continents. We learn about okapis, narwhals, alpacas, sloths, mandrills, auks, fire-bellied toads, tree crabs, the duckbill platypus, elf owl, Jackson’s chameleon, tarsier, meerkats, and the Chinese pangolin (anteaters).

The text is simple enough for a four or five year old to read by himself or herself. A world map showing where these creatures live is my four year-old’s favorite feature that he used to pore over before he read the book.

I was reminded of this excerpt from the Mohawk version of Thanksgiving address that is printed onto every American passport.

‘We send thanks to all the Animal life in the world. We are glad they are still here.
They have many things to teach us people, we hope it will always be so.’

I could see that my son identified with the parts about self-defense.

“His enemies are terrified
And run away in fright.
So rarely does the mandrill male
Really have to fight.”

“Okapis make no sound at all
And forests kept them covered,
And that is why it took so long
For them to be discovered.

These gentle vegetarians,
So mild and sweet and shy,
Can buck and kick when they’re alarmed
Their heels fly hard and high.”

My personal favorite is this bit about meerkats-

“They work together as a team
And share their chores all day.
Some hunt, some guard, some babysit;
It’s fair to all that way.

Each takes a turn at every task.
Their system is unique.
The one who stands on guard can warn
The others with a squeak”

There is so much that we can learn from the natural world!

The magic of rhyme and beautiful illustrations make the book a treasure.

We loved ‘Curious Creatures…’ so much that we’ve ordered another book by the same author – ‘Where Fish Go in Winter and other great mysteries’ – more non-fiction in verse!

 [Image source amazon.com]

Miss Twiggley’s Tree

Written and illustrated by Dorothea Warren Fox

Purple House Press

Originally published in 1966 and reprinted

Ages 3-6

 

[Image source amazon.com]

What first drew me to the book was the picture on the cover – a lady hanging precariously from a rope attached to a tree and a dog swinging! Leafing through the book, Miss. Twiggley seemed an interesting character – quirky and adorable.

 

Written in verse, it is an easy read. The 4 yo had one look at the book and declared it was a long story – but once he got going, he read it again and again!

 

The illustrations have an old-world charm, which makes the book all the more endearing.

 

Miss. Twiggley lived in a tree with a dog named Puss and a color TV. How can a book that starts off like that go wrong? This story of an old lady who lives life on her own terms, and who is a bit shy, is utterly delightful. Haven’t we all felt out of place at some point in our lives – when we find ourselves doing things differently from everyone else around us? It’s not that Miss. Twiggley doesn’t like people, but one does get a bit shy when one lives in a tree.

 

She did what she liked,

And she liked what she did,

But when company came

Miss Twiggley hid.

 

Old Miss. Twiggley has peculiar habits – she is friendly with bears and sleeps in her hat. The townspeople thought it was disgraceful, although Miss. Twiggley and Puss are happy in their house up in the tree.

 

Then, disaster strikes – a hurricane. While the townspeople are left homeless in boats or perched on rooftops, Miss. Twiggley’s unusual way of doing things turns out to be very useful. Up in her house in the tree, Miss. Twiggley gets busy with the bears and Puss – building spare beds and cooking stew. When the wet callers arrive, Miss. Twiggley is ready. She welcomes them all – the mayor, the chief of police, grocer, pigs, cats, dogs.

 

They pretend the house is Noah’s Ark, sing and play games. Everyone is now friends with everyone else. By the time the sun is out, the townsfolk are glad about Miss. Twiggley’s eccentricities.

 

The emergency helps Miss. Twiggley find out something wonderful too. In all the helping and doing, she had forgotten to be shy!

 

A profound message beautifully packaged in a fun story. Timeless.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat

The Cheshire Cheese Cat
A Dickens of a Tale
by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright
illustrated by Barry Moser

Take the best cheese in England, a literate and resourceful mouse, a well-meaning solitary cat with a potentially shameful secret and his nemesis of a savage feline beast, a raving Tower raven, and add in some colorful human characters including our very own Mr.C. Dickens, the writer, and put them in an absurdly intricate yet easy-to-unravel situation, and you have the makings of a riotous story for pages to come.

Add to it the brilliance of English language and compound story-telling, and there is a sure winner.

Although this hilarious romp is marketed for the young adult around middle grade or thereabouts, I had such a fantastic laugh that I am convinced it is for all ages. Well, ages 8+ perhaps as the Dickensian tale with its wry humor and sophisticated patter would be lost on the beginner readers.

Better yet, I think it is best enjoyed by the discerning adult who can get the subtle references and chuckle heartily. But then, that's just a perk, an incidental frolic. The book stands on its own thanks to some exceptional writing and shrewd characterization, even if the references are obscure for the young reader.

Ye Olde Cheshire Inn makes the best cheese in all of England. Pip, the talking, reading, writing mouse manages to herd his motley pack lodging in this Inn, while ensuring plenty of the best cheese for their consumption.

Into this harmonious dwellings is introduced Skilley, fleet of foot, a cat among cats. Or so he would have been, but for a secret: his love for cheese. Skilley, even though he is ashamed to admit it, is a cheese-loving cat who cannot bring himself to catch, let alone eat a mouse. But dares to present himself as a mouser at Ye Olde Cheshire Inn.

Pinch is the impending danger lurking around the corner: a perfectly foul villain who kills mice just for fun, and is Skilley's nemesis.

Maldwyn, a misunderstood raven kidnapped from the Tower of London, or so he believes.

There is no way I will be able to do justice to the style of language and characters and narration. It is not to be taken seriously, the book, I mean. How can I when one of the pages in the book is an entry from Dickens' journal that reads:

               
                               C. Dickens

Those were dire days indeed.

The times were cruel

ghastly

appalling

It was the worst of all the days the world has seen-

Oh, why can't I write an opening for my new novel that stands out from all the rest?

...

I'm at Ye Olde Cheshire today with my friend Wilkie. I was looking forward to a marvelous afternoon of cheese and chummery, but with my well of words tapped dry, I can only despair.

...

I think I'll just jump in the Thames.

Or become a lamplighter or a chimney sweep.

Anything but a writer.

Of course, little ones may not get the reference to the Tale of Two Cities, but it doesn't take away from the story.

Chapter Ten has some creative type-setting like the ones I've seen in books with concrete poetry - the font style and arrangement makes it an enhanced reading experience.

The black-and-white illustrations capture the characters and moods perfectly, adding a bit of humor to it that is subtle yet forceful.

I can only imagine the kind of fun the authors must've had while writing this book.

All's well that ends well. There are a few knots in the proceedings which get straightened out to everyone's advantage in the end, with a surprise last minute entrance from a mysterious visitor who sorts things out as is expected of her.

This is a book I'd love to have in my bookshelf to reach for at will and read a few pages at random and know that I will be entertained and amused each time. I am adding it to the as-yet-non-existent Reading List for the kids when they are ready.

[image source: schoollibraryjournal.com]