Beth and Chrissi do Kid-Lit 2014 – MARCH READ – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

What’s it all about?:

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.

What did I think?:

This is one of my all-time favourite childrens classics and our choice for March Kid-Lit, but as with a few of our previous Kid-Lit books I was slightly apprehensive about reading it as an adult, for fear I wouldn’t love it as much as I used to. I needn’t have feared however as it was just as terrific as I had remembered, although this time around I picked up many more references to religion than I remember being in the novel as a child. It tells the story of the March family which consists of four sisters: Meg, the oldest who is incredibly gentile and beautiful, Jo our tomboy who enjoys anything remotely unladylike and has aspirations to become a writer, Beth the angel in their midst who is kind, unselfish and vulnerable and the youngest Amy who loves anything connected with art and amuses her older sisters with her choice of vocabulary and grand ideas. The story is basically a coming of age novel in which four young girls become women, and the trials that come with becoming a “grown-up,” such as love, marriage, disappointment and tragedy.

This is not just another one of those classics that can become slightly tedious or where nothing much happens – there is plenty of drama for the March family, where there always seems to be something afoot and is in my opinion, a truly heart-warming read. As the girls grow up we hear of their exuberance in putting on small plays, share in the tension as Amy burns Jo’s precious manuscript and worry with them when Beth comes down with scarlet fever. One thing that did surprise me when re-reading this book as an adult as I mentioned previously was how much of a factor religion played in the novel which I didn’t remember having been there previously. Marmee in particular seems to be the dominating persona for this within the household and consistently teaches her girls about the way of the world if they follow God. I don’t mind religion in novels and in certain cases where the religion isn’t Christian interests me greatly and makes me more likely to read a book, but I tend to get slightly exasperated if it becomes too “preachy.” Luckily, I don’t think it comes across that way in Alcott’s novel and is more a background reminder for the children to live their lives by, and to encourage them to be good and honest individuals.

I have the Little Women complete series on my Kindle and I have to admit I was slightly confused after finishing Little Women (at the point where Meg agrees to marry John) and seeing THE END, as I remembered a lot more happening after this event. After a short spot of googling however I found out that the second instalment in the series, Good Wives was originally published separately but both books together made up the story of Little Women. I love the classic storybook happy ending also which paves the way for the next novel Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys which I’m quite certain I haven’t read before but will be certain to (Kid-Lit 2015, sis?!)

Reading this book again was an absolute pleasure, the characters are wonderful and so loveable and it reminded me why it is considered a classic work of fiction in the first place. Best bit? It’s pretty hard to choose, some of the scenes will always be highly memorable for me but I have to mention the scene where Aunt March’s parrot looks under a piece of furniture after a spider he has chased there and invites it to: “Come and take a walk my dear?.” Hilarious and utterly brilliant! Definitely one of my favourite pieces of Kid-Lit and I hope future generations will continue to treasure it.

For Chrissi’s fabulous review please see her post HERE

Would I recommend it?:

But of course!

Star rating (out of 5):

Beth and Chrissi Do Kid-Lit 2014 – FEBRUARY READ – Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

What’s it all about?:

In 1865, English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), aka Lewis Carroll, wrote a fantastical adventure story for the young daughters of a friend. The adventures of Alice-named for one of the little girls to whom the book was dedicated-who journeys down a rabbit hole and into a whimsical underworld realm instantly struck a chord with the British public, and then with readers around the world. In 1872, in reaction to the universal acclaim *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland* received, Dodgson published this sequel. Nothing is quite what it seems once Alice journeys through the looking-glass, and Dodgson’s wit is infectious as he explores concepts of mirror imagery, time running backward, and strategies of chess-all wrapped up in the exploits of a spirited young girl who parries with the Red Queen, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and other unlikely characters. In many ways, this sequel has had an even greater impact on today’s pop culture than the first book.

What did I think?:

The two books which tell the story of Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass always bring back happy memories for me as I was given for my seventh birthday a beautiful hardback of The Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll by my aunt, and spent many a happy hour in Alice’s weird and wonderful world. When Chrissi Reads and I decided to do a Kid-Lit challenge in 2013, I knew Alice in Wonderland had to be on there, and now we are repeating the challenge this year, Through The Looking Glass was also a dead cert for the list.

The World of the Looking Glass is even more stranger than Wonderland, if that is possible? When Alice first steps through the Looking Glass, she is faced with a chess board and tiny chess pieces which are very much alive, and a bit wary of this giant “volcano” (Alice) which lifts them up onto a table, giving them a terrible fright. Alice herself remains very much unchanged from the little girl in the first volume, still slightly irritating and incredibly proper, but completely compelling to read about at the same time. Once she becomes immersed in the new world, she realises things are very backward – quite literally – when she finds a book, she has to hold it up to the Looking Glass so it can be read properly. This is the famous and fabulous poem The Jabberwocky which begins:

 ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.’

There does seem to be more of a goal for Alice in this book compared to Wonderland, as she takes the place of the White Queen’s pawn on the chessboard, and is told she must pass through a number of squares, meeting a host of colourful characters before she can become a Queen on the Eighth Square. So Alice’s journey begins, and this is where Lewis Carroll’s imagination really ran riot. We have the peculiar Tweedledum and Tweedledee, a meeting with Humpty-Dumpty (is he wearing a tie or a cravat? Well, it IS hard to tell on an egg I guess!) and an encounter with a rather sinister knitting Sheep. These are just the stand out moments for me, but everything is so unique, a little bonkers, and completely surreal that I think children today might still enjoy this fantastical world. There is quite a lot of poetry in the story, apart from the Jabberwocky there is a lovely little poem about The Walrus and the Carpenter which I remember from my childhood quite vividly. Probably because I felt so desperately sorry for the poor gullible little oysters?

Since reading this book as an adult (and still finding the knitting Sheep quite sinister), I have fallen in love all over again with the magic of Lewis Carroll’s world. I recommend to anyone that hasn’t read it, or hasn’t read it for a while, to give it another shot and enjoy being taken on a radically different journey where flowers squabble between themselves, we have 364 “un-birthdays,” and nonsense is so much better than being sensible!

For Chrissi’s take on Through The Looking Glass please see her fabulous post HERE

Would I recommend it?:

But of course!

Star rating (out of 5):

WWW Wednesday #32

Welcome to another WWW Wednesday, and thanks as ever to MizB for hosting.

To join in you need to answer 3 questions..

•What are you currently reading?

•What did you recently finish reading?

•What do you think you’ll read next?

Click on the book covers to take you to a link to find out more!

What are you currently reading?:

I’m ploughing through this beast of a book this week. I’m really enjoying it, but for some reason it’s taking me ages to read!

What did you recently finish reading?:

I really loved this book which I did as an interview type review with my sister and fellow blogger Chrissi Reads. Check out what we both thought on either of our blogs!

What do you think you’ll read next?:

Next up, I’m reading Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll for the February Kid-Lit read which is a feature where I link up with Chrissi Reads. I’m also looking forward to reading this Icelandic murder mystery. It’s going to be part of a new feature which I’m doing on my blog and quite excited about.

What are you reading this Wednesday? Please leave your link and I’ll come pay you a visit! Happy Reading Everyone!

Beth and Chrissi do Kid-Lit 2014 – JANUARY READ – Aesop’s Fables by Aesop

What’s it all about?:

The fables of Aesop have become one of the most enduring traditions of European culture, ever since they were first written down nearly two millennia ago. Aesop was reputedly a tongue-tied slave who miraculously received the power of speech; from his legendary storytelling came the collections of prose and verse fables scattered throughout Greek and Roman literature. First published in English by Caxton in 1484, the fables and their morals continue to charm modern readers: who does not know the story of the tortoise and the hare, or the boy who cried wolf?

This new translation is the first to represent all the main fable collections in ancient Latin and Greek, arranged according to the fables’ contents and themes. It includes 600 fables, many of which come from sources never before translated into English.

What did I think?:

This is the first book in my Kid-Lit challenge which I participate in with my sister and fellow blogger Chrissi Reads. It’s also one I’ve been meaning to get round to for a while as I find some of the old fables quite amusing and charming. This collection consists of 600 original fables, attributed to Aesop but acknowledged to be written by a number of classical scholars including Aristophanes, Phalereus and Socrates. Aesop himself was thought to be a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece during the 5th century BC, if indeed he existed at all. Most fables from around this time are connected to Aesop if there is no other known literary source and passed down by oral tradition. The fables are mostly quite short in order to get the point across, and include a moral or expand on a proverb. The philosopher John Locke was determined on the idea that they could be used to teach young children and in effect, groom young minds.

Aesop’s fables, in his opinion are

“apt to delight and entertain a child. . . yet afford useful reflection to a grown man. And if his memory retain them all his life after, he will not repent to find them there, amongst his manly thoughts and serious business. If his Aesop has pictures in it, it will entertain him much better, and encourage him to read when it carries the increase of knowledge with it For such visible objects children hear talked of in vain, and without any satisfaction, whilst they have no ideas of them; those ideas being not to be had from sounds, but from the things themselves, or their pictures.”

 Some of the fables were quite new to me (well, there are six hundred!) but others were old favourites that I immediately recognised including The Tortoise and The Hare, Androcles and the Lion, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Ant and the Cricket. All include a little lesson for life that we recognise in sayings such as: “slow and steady wins the race,” “a wolf in sheeps clothing,” “one swallow does not a summer make,” some of which I hadn’t realised originated from these classic fables. As for being a tool for teaching, I do agree that children can learn some valuable lessons when regarding morality and the difference between bad and good. However, some of the fables require serious revising or re-structuring to conform to today’s moral code. I’m talking about the ones that advocate slavery, are highly sexist or accuse all Arabs of being evil.

 In general, there’s a really nice set of fables here that have the potential to be revised and updated to reflect current times more accurately. At times it felt a bit tedious (perhaps six hundred fables at once is a bit much?), and there are a few that seem slightly repetitive save for a change in animal, but I enjoyed the book on a whole. I also found the structure quite interesting i.e. it was split up into different categories – fables about slaves and masters, fables about self-destruction and even fables with a bit of toilet humour. And hey, who isn’t delighted and entertained by a talking animal?!

These are a couple of my favourites that I think illustrate a dry wit that has stayed with us through the centuries and imprinted itself on our memories.

The Mother, the Child and the Crow

The mother of a small baby consulted a soothsayer who told her that her child would be killed by a crow. Terrified, the mother ordered that a large chest be built and she shut her baby inside, protecting him so that no crow could harm him. She continued in this way, opening the chest at regular intervals in order to give the baby the food that he needed. Then one day, after she had opened the chest and was using an iron bar to prop up the lid, the child recklessly stuck his head out. At that moment, the iron bar – it was a crow bar – fell down on top of the boy’s head and killed him.

Zeus and the Tortoise

Zeus invited all the animals to his wedding. The tortoise alone was absent, and Zeus did not know why, so he asked the tortoise her reason for not having come to the feast. The tortoise said, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” Zeus got angry at the tortoise and ordered her to carry her house with her wherever she went.

For Chrissi’s take on Aesop’s Fables please see her fabulous post HERE.

Would I recommend it?:

But of course!

Star rating (out of 5):