Review: The Deal of a Lifetime
I was born here but I’ve never gotten used to it; Helsingborg and I will never find peace. Maybe everyone feels that way about their hometown: the place we’re from never apologizes, never admits that it was wrong about us.
Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite writers, and a true wordsmith. I fell in love with A Man Called Ove
The story begins with a father writing a letter to his son on Christmas Eve. Instead of a typical feel-good letter, the father is writing to tell his son that he has taken a life. Throughout the course of the novella, we meet a 5-year-old girl with cancer, a mysterious woman who drifts in and out of the picture, and find out why the narrator feels he failed as a parent. When he is given the opportunity to commit a selfless act and save the little girl, he has to see what his life was really worth before he can make the deal. Thus, he writes a letter to his son, examining his entire life.
This book yanked at my heartstrings right from the introduction. I was hooked before the book had even begun. Backman gets the feelings of a man trying to do right, and the strange feelings that accompany returning to a hometown that you might never have felt at home in, exactly right. This novella is only 65 pages long, but I smiled, I laughed, and I definitely cried.
The book is so short, and I don’t want to give the entire plot away, so just know that it is the story of a man desperate to fix things in the past, and the deal a parent is willing to make to achieve those changes. The Deal of a Lifetime
Maybe all people have that feeling deep down, that your hometown is something you can never really escape, but can never really go home to, either. Because it’s not home anymore. We’re not trying to make peace with it. Not with the streets and bricks of it. Just with the person we were back then. And maybe forgive ourselves for everything we thought we would become and didn’t.
What My Kids Are Reading: What’s in Our Christmas Basket!
In honor of the start of December (And the official start of the Christmas season-our elf arrives today), I thought I would show you all some of the books in our overflowing Christmas book basket! This isn’t even half the books, and I won’t list them all because, well, it would take too long to read! I’m going to list a few of our favorites, and try to highlight a few more throughout this month.
Tell me what Christmas or holiday books you read with your kids!
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
I mentioned this book on Instagram, and I was so happy to see that a lot of you also read this as a kid! I loved this book growing up (and I got to be in the play version and loved every minute of it) and my kids are loving it as well. It’s a short book, and is great for reading out loud together (6 and up) or for an older kid to read on their own (8ish and up). The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is about how a family of 6 ill-mannered kids, the Herdmans, end up attending Sunday school at a very traditional church. They go for the snacks, and end up staying and volunteering to be in the Christmas pageant. No one argues with them, because if you argue with a Herdman you might end up with a black eye. The Herdmans have no idea what the Christmas story is, and as they learn throughout the book, the kids and parents who thought they already knew everything end up learning a few things themselves. This is a great book that really highlights the importance of understanding and tolerance, even for the “worst” kids. And I have to say, the Herdman kids ask some interesting questions about the history of the Christmas story that started some great discussions between my own kids!
The Night Before Christmas
This is the classic Christmas book, and I’m sure everyone has a copy of it. We have the Mary Engelbreit illustrated version of it, and I just love it. The pictures are beautiful and keep a somewhat outdated story interesting for my kids. We read this every Christmas Eve right before bed!
Llama Llama Holiday Drama
We love the Llama Llama book series, and I was heartbroken when Anna Dewdney passed away in 2016. Even though this is a board book and probably too young for my kids, we still read it! (I think there’s something about Christmas books-no matter how old kids get, they’re never too old for favorite books.) It’s all about how tiring the holidays can be, and how hard it is to wait until Christmas. Llama Llama throws a tantrum, of course, and his mama explains that while holidays and gifts are fun, the real gift we have is each other. I think that’s a great message, delivered in a simple format, that’s wonderful for any age.
The Spirit of Christmas
The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous, and the story is very sweet. (If you’re like me, you’ll tear up at the end.) It is told in rhyme, similar to The Night Before Christmas, and tells the story of the spirit of Christmas entering a family’s home and decorating it every which way to get ready for the holiday. But the narrator keeps thinking something is missing-ornaments, bells, cookies. At the end, the narrator realizes that Christmas isn’t Christmas without love and children, and I’m already tearing up just thinking about reading this to my kids again this year! It’s truly a wonderful book.
Little Critter: Merry Christmas Mom and Dad
I loved Little Critter as a kid, and I still love him! This is two books in one: Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad and Just for You. In Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad, Little Critter tries to make cookies, decorate the tree, and wrap presents in his own, messy way. In the classic Mercer Mayer style, Little Critter doesn’t always pay close attention to what he’s doing, but his heart is in the right place, and he just wants to please his parents. Just for You isn’t a Christmas story, but it is a sweet story of Little Critter trying to help his mom any way he can. (Even if that means it makes more work for his mom in the end!)
Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
Do your kids read the Little Blue Truck books? Mine loved these so much that I had them memorized for a good couple of years. In this cute Christmas story, Little Blue Truck is delivering Christmas trees to all of his friends. The illustrations are super cute, as usual, and there is a light-up element at the end of the book that any kid will love.
EXTRA!
Elf Alternative–North Pole Ninjas: MISSION: Christmas!
Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? We do, and it’s fun, but last year I wanted something a little different. (In addition to the elf, because my kids definitely did not forget about Elfie coming.) We tried the North Pole Ninjas, and it’s awesome! The set comes with a book, a stuffed elf ninja/sensei, and a bunch of good deed cards. This is sort of like the Elf on the Shelf in that you can move the ninja around every day, but instead of focusing on behavior, this is meant to focus on doing good deeds throughout the month of December. The book tells how there are special ninja elves at the north pole who perform top secret missions, and now that you have the sensei, you can also be a secret ninja and help them perform all their good deeds. There are 50 cards with suggestions on them, but you can always make up your own as well. The goal is to pick a card or two a day and carry out secret missions (good deeds) throughout the month, with the sensei guiding you. My kids love ninjas, and they really do like doing nice things for other people. We all need a little encouragement in this area sometimes, and this is a fun way to encourage it in kids.
[Top]Review: Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker
Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker
Thank you to the Kid Lit Exchange for the review copy of this book! All opinions are my own!
It’s tough being a kid sometimes, and it’s even harder to be a bit different from the crowd as a kid. Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker
Beatrice Zinker does her best thinking upside down. Her family is perfectly normal, but she doesn’t let that change who she is. When she and her best friend, Lenny, decide to dress as ninjas for the first day of school, she knows third grade is going to be the best year. But when third grade starts and Lenny shows up in a trendy outfit with a new friend, Beatrice has to figure out how to get her friend back and make both of their personalities work together.
In a world of in-crowds and cliques, it’s so refreshing to see an upside down thinker like Beatrice. She isn’t afraid to think outside the box, and while she’s willing to compromise, she’s not willing to change who she is for anyone. In order to fix her friendship with Lenny, she has to give a little too (even though she wishes Lenny would dress like a ninja and go back to the old ways of their friendship), and it shows that even in friendship compromise is important. Friendships grow and change, but differences don’t mean they have to end.
Another reason I loved Beatrice so much is that she reminds me of my beloved Ramona books. She’s precocious, and tends to get into trouble without really meaning to, but she has a heart of gold.
This is great for ages 7 and up, and perfect for readers looking for easy chapter books. The subject matter is entertaining enough for more advanced readers who want a quick book to read, and Beatrice has something to teach us all about remaining true to ourselves, and the importance of upside down thinking. I am SO glad there are more Beatrice books coming in the next couple of years!
Review: Little Fires Everywhere
All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control.
Celeste Ng’s first book, Everything I Never Told You
Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground.
Shaker Heights, Ohio, is a perfectly planned community full of perfectly planned families. Elena Richardson, journalist, mother of 4, wife of 1, grew up in Shaker Heights and returned to start a family right after college. Image is extremely important to her, and she works hard to maintain a shining one. When Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl move to town, looking to start a new chapter in their lives, Elena takes it upon herself to help them out, beginning with giving them a good deal on a rental. But when Pearl and Elena’s children become entwined, Elena starts to wonder about Mia’s mysterious past, and why they don’t really know anything about her. When one of Elena’s friends tries to adopt a Chinese-American baby, Mia and Elena, as well as the entire town, are split on whether or not the adoption should go through. Elena will not stop looking into Mia’s past until she figures out everything, no matter how many lives she ruins along the way.
The first thing that came to mind when I started reading this book was the song Little Boxes. (It was the theme song to the TV show Weeds, and it’s about perfect little box houses all in a row, and all the families looking the same.) Ng’s Shaker Heights is just like the song. Everyone has a large, perfect house, everyone is a doctor, lawyer, or executive, and everyone wants to be the same. Elena’s youngest child, Izzy (who I wanted so much more of), throws a wrench into those plans, and that’s all I’ll say because I don’t want to ruin the plot for you.
This book made me think, and I’m still thinking about it. It made me question my own motives behind the decisions I’ve made, and what kind of judgments I’m willing to pass on people who I’ve never met. Elena wants to be charitable, and she is, but only for certain people who meet certain criteria. She is very quick to pass judgment on other people and their situations, but that judgment changes when she or her family is in a similar situation. Ng really confronts the black and white that most of us use for right and wrong, and delves into all the shades of gray that are in between.
The writing, as usual, is wonderful. Ng moves fluidly between the characters’ past and present, and does so so seamlessly that not only did I not feel removed from the main story, I didn’t even realize it was happening. She is such a beautiful writer. (And I mean that in the best way, not in the, “this book is highbrow and no one can really understand it” way.) It is a brilliant, original story, and I literally hugged the book when I finished it and wanted to re-read it immediately.
Little Fires Everywhere
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ X 1,000
EXTRA!
I have to include my favorite quote here, because it made me tear up when I read it, as a parent and as a fan of Ng’s writing.
“Parents, she thought, learned to survive touching their children less and less. It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it, and consume it, seeds, core, and all.”
Ng is an expert at pinpointing the exact feeling we can all relate to and leaning into it with all her might. If you read this book and don’t feel SOMETHING, well, read it again!
What My Kids are Reading: November 17, 2017
It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s almost time for the kids to be out of school for a week. 9 days, really, but who’s counting? I’m actually looking forward to being able to read more to both kids, since we can stay up a little bit later at night. As you can see from today’s post, they really love series, and they really love particular series! Tell me what you’re planning to read over the Thanksgiving break, and what your kids have been reading lately!
The 8-Year-Old
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Do you remember how I said I was going to make my son wait awhile before starting the fifth Harry Potter book? Because books 5-7 are pretty dark and I was concerned about how he would handle it? Yeah. He wore me down after about a week, and he’s handling it just fine. Like my husband said, if I was 8 (almost 9) and had access to all 7 of the Harry Potter books, would I have wanted to wait? Nope. So he’s reading it on his own during the day, and I read it to him at night, and it’s been going great! He says this is his favorite one so far. (I’ll let you know what he thinks about the ending when we get there. Sirius is one of his favorite characters . . . )
I pre-ordered the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book because my son is a HUGE fan, as is everyone else! He read this in a day, and I’m pretty sure he’s read it a couple more times since. In this one, Greg Heffley and his family go out of town for the holidays, but of course nothing goes right. My son loved it, and he already can’t wait for the next in the series!
The 6-Year-Old
The 65-Story Treehouse
Clearly, my younger son still loves this Treehouse series! We are on to the next one, and it’s just as silly and crazy as the others. as silly as these books are, I have to say that they’ve helped with his reading skills a lot. He’s a good reader, but this book makes him WANT to read more, and to really sound out bigger and more difficult words. There are also a lot of nonsense words, and he’s been doing a great job sounding those out. Being able to sound out nonsense words might not sound like an important skill, but it really is! It prepares kids for bigger, real words. Think of this series as a modern Dr. Seuss series . . . with flying cats and chainsaw juggling.
What We’re Reading Together
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
I started to read this book to my kids by accident! I was going through some of my old books, getting a little nostalgic and teary-eyed over those dusty covers, and I came across Doctor Dolittle. My kids were playing around me, and I just started to read this out loud. They stopped playing, got a blanket, listened, and asked me to keep going when I stopped. It’s such a simple story, of a doctor who prefers animals and discovers he can talk to them, but it’s fun, sentimental, and very entertaining. I highly recommend this one for any age-it really stands the test of time!
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