Harriet the Spy - Books that made me love reading challenge

When I was younger...
I think I read the book after I had seen the movie.  I think seeing the movie first really altered my perception of the characters. While I loved the movie as a kid, and I loved book, I actually disliked the book this time around.

My perception of Harriet has changed a lot. I used to think she was curious and fun loving, this time around was very different.


Now...
Harriet's voice sounds a lot older than she is, which I give her credit for. But is her snarky attitude that is pretty poor.  She claims to want to learn everything, but she is unwilling to put herself in someone else's shoes.  She thinks she has all the answers and tends to put other people down.  Because of this, she has some major realizations and has to grow up fast when everyone turns against her.  Though, Harriet's story is still kind of fun and interesting.

Why I loved this book...
This book made me want to journal.  While I didn't really want to be a spy, I wanted to people watch and observe.  I wanted to be the fly on the wall when I was in public places, overhearing private conversations when I could.  But not breaking and entering, or anything to that extreme.

This book had a huge impact on my life.  I find it interesting that Harriet's voice no longer resonates with me.  Some of the things she says are a little too young.  And yes, it is a kid's book so maybe that's why I find her a little stuck up now.

For anyone that wants to read this, I do highly recommend it for younger readers. And I still love the movie, which I watched after the book.

Poppy by Avi - Books that made me love reading challenge

For some reason, when I was younger, I adored the idea of mice doing battle so much so that I bought almost the entirety of Brian Jacques series without even reading a single one of them. I'm a book hoarder, sue me.

But I think that love all stemmed from Poppy.

When I was younger... I loved how a timid little field mouse could do such a grandiose task.  It made me feel empowered, and I think it made me respect animals a lot more.  She fought for her life and won, she kept on going even when it looked bleak, even when she thought she was going to die.  Poppy was a fighter, and I hugely respected her courage.

Now...  since I have grown to love and respect owls, it is a bit of a bitter sweet ending.  While the owl is completely manipulative, and is a good villain, he is also just trying to survive.  The easiest way for him to do that?  To insight fear into the field mice.  This was an interesting one to read over again.

It's funny, when I was younger, I used to record myself reading and play it back.  The purpose?  To understand how I sounded to other people.  I actually really hated my voice - and for the most part, still do.  I also had a lot of issues with reading out loud.  I would trip over my words in class, and I read Poppy to try to get better at that.

I don't think it was very successful, but hey, it was still fun.

Shiloh - Books that made me love reading challenge

For some reason, I really thought that Shiloh was a sad story. I don't know why my childhood mind made up this idea, but for whatever reason that's how I remember it.  Strange what time and memory really does, huh.  It could be that I'm getting Shiloh and Shiloh Season confused - or maybe I just remember the graphic, bloody part better than the rest.

When I was younger...
I guess what I really enjoyed about Shiloh was the actual dog.  I was animal obsessed to the 1000th degree and really thought that someday I would be a vet.  (Then I realized that I can't physically cut into anything without become queasy).

Now...
I start to peel back the layers and realize there's much more substance to the story than I previously thought. The main character, while he lied to his parents, learns an important life lesson about keeping true to his word and being a generally good person.  He faces an enormous amount of hostility and adversity from Judd, but with his perseverance and strength of character, he reaches his goal.  It is one of those stories where you end up believing that anything is possible if you work hard enough.  Which, isn't that what all kids should be taught?

Of course, being older and a little more cynical (or realistic), I realize that this isn't always the case.  Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, you will still be pushed in a different direction.  But I do believe that the different direction might sometimes be a better fit than where you once where.  And I think that's what I take away from this novel - work hard and eventually get rewarded, though sometimes the reward can surprise you.

Matilda

For this month, on the Books that Made Me Love Reading Challenge, I read Matilda by Roald Dahl.

What I thought then:
Matilda was a nerd, just like me.  She was a nerd and was capable of so many good things in the world - that it must mean that being a little bookish is okay.  I wanted to be more like the precarious child, I wanted to read more and emulate who she was.  And I think that really helped me read more often, because she was so enthralled with books.  I said to myself, "I want to do that - I want to read every book on the children's section."  And I remember that I did start picking up library books at random, but I never did get through all of them.

What I think now: 
Matilda is a little bit evil.  She's like a child version of Dexter.  Matilda plays tricks and pranks on people that deserve it - on people that are downright bad people.  Dexter has the same kind of philosophy right?  But the main difference is:  He is 100% a sociopath.  Matilda -- well, she just wants to get people back and live a good life (where other good people also get to live good lives).  But it is vigilantism, right?  I still love Matilda, and I still love her story.  I think it's a great book and speaks a lot about "Good things should go to good people."

Also, the illustrations are still hilarious, I don't care how old you are - that newt is precious!

Next month, I'll be reading Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

A is for All the Money in the World

I'm taking two of my challenges and wrapping them into one post.  It's the A-Z Blogging Challenge and Emlyn Chand's Books that Made Me Love Reading Challenge.  For this month, I read All the Money in the World by Bill Brittain.

What I thought then:
This book captivated me.  Honestly, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  My little mind was enthralled.  It really taught me "be careful what you wish for."  And it made me think long and hard about what I would do with three wishes.  Firstly, I would tell the person who was granted the wishes not to grant it until I said, "Please grant the wish that I just told you about."  This way, I would avoid any stupidities (like in the book).

For my first wish, I would wish for:  A wallet that is indestructible and has magical properties (which I will explain momentarily) where only people related to me can use it - and if it is stolen, or lost, it will always find its way back to the people in my family.  Now, the magical properties would be:  Every time I, or a family member, thought about how much money they needed, it would appear in the wallet.  However, this money would come from places where people forgot about it.  Example:  twenty dollars falls down the drain and never gets picked up again?  It's mine now.  But all money pulled from the wallet will be cleaned, and in perfect condition (so if I end up pulling up old gold coins from somewhere deep in the ocean, I can totally have artifacts - and don't have to deal with stinky swamp money).  In the case that there is no money that people have lost/forgotten about, the wallet will remain empty until there is money/gold/silver that can be found elsewhere.  The money is not to be "stolen" from people that own it.

Yes, this is everything I thought of when I was little.  Because I loved the concept of "all the money in the world" or rather "not having to worry about it again," but saw the flaws in the wish and wanted to make it better.  My kid mind was all about it.  As for my second and third wish?  I would save them, because if the first wish fails in someway, I will definitely need my second wish to fix it.

What I think now:
It was still a fun read, and clearly I'm still thinking about what my three wishes would be.  Though Quentin's story is a lot less interesting the second time around - it was still very amusing.  My biggest problem with the book is no one ever questions why leprechauns exist.  I mean, there's a one-two foot man running around who is green and everyone just accepts it.  "Oh, that's just Flan."  ... That's just a little green man!!! No big deal?!  Really?!

The Concept of All:
A is for All, so I want to take the time to discuss this concept.  All is a pretty selfish term.  I don't think I would ever wish, or want, all of something.  It's too self-centered.  Can you think of anything that you would want all of?  All the oranges, tea, money, trees, land, paperclips?  What's the point in having all of anything if you can't share it?  Who would want all the paperclips in the world anyway?  The only thing that I could think of would be:  I want to see all the beautiful things in the world before I pass.  But that could take a long time, right?  Or maybe just, I want all my thoughts to be positive?  But then - if all your thoughts are positive, all the time, then how would you get negativity in your writing?  Your characters have to go through some kind of emotional turmoil to change?  And knowing everything - all the things in the world - that would be way too intense, right?  I think that I should keep the "alls" to someone else, because I'm "all" set ;)  But if you can think of anything that it would be helpful to have all of - please, start the debate!

Bunnicula - Reading Challenge

Don't forget to check out my giveaway!

For March's The Books that Made Me Love Reading Challenge, I read Bunnicula.  I haven't picked up this book since the fourth grade, and even then I was reading it for a challenge.  But I actually loved it so much, that I became determined to read the rest of the books in the challenge.  I must have holed-up in the backroom for ages.  When I finished my math early (and believe me, I finished early.  I was a math whiz even though I hated it), I was able to sit in my teacher's huge massive walk in closet with a blanket and read.  Talk about a Neverending Story kind of moment.  My childhood mind was delighted.

New Cover

What I thought then:
I always felt bad for the bunny, even though he did scare me a little bit.  Because Chester was right on some level - what if vegetables weren't enough for the little herbivore?  What if he decided he needed something more than tomatoes and carrots.

What I think now:

Old Cover

So steak versus stake didn't actually register with me when I was younger.  I thought Chester was actually trying to stake the bunny - but just wasn't strong enough. I almost cried when I was little because I was imagining the scene so horrid.  But now, I think it is hugely funny, because Chester makes the same steak vs stake mistake that I made all those years ago.  It's still a very cute story, but the cover has since gotten a lot more horrifying. 

I mean - just look at the new cover!  Giant bunny, horrible red eyes, huge shadow looming behind him.  He looks downright menacing.  The old cover, he looks cute, a little scary, but mostly cute.  And the new font!  The new font is enough to make my nine year old self crawl under the covers and cry.

Regardless, I still adore this book.  This was definitely a good March read.  April's read is going to be All the Money in the World by Bill Brittain.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Books that Made Me....
love reading Challenge.

And it continues - I still somehow find the time to make this work, even though I'm on tighter and tighter deadlines with reading, writing, and everything.

When I was younger, The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a cute tale with the beautifully crafted pages by Eric Carle.  I still love the artwork, but essentially the book tells me "eat a whole bunch, get fat, hibernate, and then you'll be beautiful." 

It really is strange to go back to these books - and I will be taking a giant leap forward from the infantile level into chapter books for the next post (either Bunnicula or All the Money in the World).  Eric Carle definitely made me think that everything could be beautiful and that everything would turn out okay.  His artwork was like a baby blanket, and I suppose in a way it still is.  I love the simplicity of it, but the gloriousness of his textures.  (Yes, I said "gloriousness").

Regardless, I'm not as cynical about this piece as I was The Runaway Bunny.  It's so short of a book that I almost don't really know what to say about it.  This post is already longer than the words themselves.  But yes, grow up, be fat and happy, eat too much sometimes, and fly away.  Ah, to be young again and be able to eat piles of cheeseballs without consequence!

Anyway, I look forward to moving up to chapter books because those really shaped me as a reader and a writer.  Be on the lookout for more "Books that made me" posts in the future!

Another Challenge!

You guys need to take the internet away from me.  Seriously, I'm doing way too many of these things now.  Regardless, I'm still starting it!

Emlyn Chand is doing a year long challenge on her blog. If you choose to participate, you'll post an introduction post on why you love reading. Then, once a month, you post a review  about the books that made you love reading from way back when.  Read her blog for all the details, but it's a pretty sweet deal (especially because The Runaway Bunny totally counts).

There are so many reasons why I love reading, but the obvious one to me is the transportation to another world. I could be anyone or anything if just for a moment. I could be a mouse running from an owl, or a teddy bear looking for his lost button, or just a boy who had a really tough life and is growing up.

I love reading because I love writing. And I know how piss poor some of my earlier writing is because I've started reading again recently. I devoured books when I was younger, but when I majored in Literature in college - and most of my reading experiences were around classics and clad with papers and analysis - reading lost a lot of its fun. No, rather, analyzing books was just too much. Why couldn't I get lost in the story of Robinson Crusoe? Why did I have to look for passages to underline for a paper later? I'm sure when these authors originally wrote, it was to entertain. Not have you write a ten page paper on the difference between Shelley's Frankenstein and the movie (pick a version) that would come out years upon years upon years later.

No, I love reading because I can wrap myself up in the book. Lose myself in the character and float around in someone else's head for awhile. It's a bit voyeuristic, to love watching people unfold in books. (I people watch too, but that's another story for another day).

While reading academically is important, I think it is important because it makes your a better writer - and not a better paper writer, but a better story teller.

Some of the books that inspired me, when I was younger (these are the ones I plan on re-reading in 2012,in order of to be read):

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
All the Money in the World by Bill Brittain
Bunnicula by James Howe
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Poppy by Avi
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rawling
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Blue Coyote by Liza Ketchum
Why Do Birds by Damon Knight

Most of these are middle school years, but there were some random days that I went shelf-browsing in High School.  I'll explain my reasons for loving them when I read each of them and post for the challenge ;) One mention that I want to say (that I'm not going to review) is The Hot Zone.  Wait, Rachel, are you telling me you read that when you were younger?

I was a weird kid, what can I say.  In ninth grade, I was offered extra credit to read one of the books on my biology's teacher's shelf.  I read half of it, and stopped because it made me so queasy.  But it began my epic love for horror and all things horror-filled.  I still get to the same spot year after year and have to stop reading.  I will try to read that this year, finally, but for my To Be Read Pile Challenge - not this one.  :)