Monthly Archives: June 2021

Summer Break

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The cats and I have decided to take a week off to rest up and recuperate from a busy spring. We will be spending some extra time lounging in the sun, napping, and, of course, catching up on our reading.

The world of education has been challenging the past year, navigating the world of virtual and hybrid learning amidst the pandemic and ever changing guidance. As a cap on the year, I also agreed to work summer school for the first time ever. We plan to be back next week with our June pick for the Unread Shelf Project (a book bought in a spending spree), and an update on how we have been doing with tackling that way to long to read list (spoiler alert: it’s not great!).

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Wishing you all some rest and relaxation as we close out June.

Love,

Katie, Boris, and Minka

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

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Book: The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas

I am sure I have talked about this before, but I have a fascination with fairy tales. Of course, I feel I need to say that I am by no means an expert or even particularly well read when it comes to fairy tales—which is actually part of what I find so intriguing. There are hundreds of these stories that “everyone knows,” but there are so many different versions of each that not everyone really knows the story in the same way. It’s easy to say that the originals have the fairest claim to legitimacy, and while there is truth to that, I am not wholly convinced. Where do you draw the line when an interpretation of a story becomes more popular or well known than its source?

That is quite the lead in for a fairy tale adaptation that is neither well known nor anything like the original story. This is a book left on the shelf at my parents’ house from a Scholastic Book Fair long ago. I have a vague memory of it being read aloud to one of my elementary school classes. Really, I had not thought about it in a very long time until my cousin’s daughter pulled it off that shelf at a family party a few years ago and asked me to read it to her. From what I remember, we both enjoyed it, sitting on the landing upstairs while the party continued on below without us. It was returned to the shelf again until recently, when I stopped to look it over while visiting. A few days before that, I had been reading something online about non-traditional adaptations of fairy tales. It seemed a serendipitous moment, as I had not yet chosen a picture book for this month. I snatched the book up to read at home with the kitties.

I think this one even pushes the limits of being a non-traditional adaptation. The original tale of The Three Little Pigs seems like a familiar one, but not one that I can recall a specific source for. While I am sure that I had it in a story collection at some point, no particular storybook comes to mind. I did a little Google research to find that the most commonly known version may come from a Disney short, but that there are differences in that story from the generally agreed upon original from the mid-1800s. I’m sure you are shocked. While certainly a stretch from either story, this version takes elements from both. As I am sure you have inferred from the title, the tables are turned a bit here, with some cuddly little Wolves being picked on my a big bully of a Pig.

The story starts similarly to the original Pigs tale, with the Wolves being sent off by their mother to build a home of their own. Continuing along those lines, they begin to create houses from building materials they get from several other animals that they happen upon. Luckily for the Wolves, these are rather more sturdy materials than those of the Little Pigs: the first house built by the Little Wolves is made of brick. When the Big Bad Pig comes along, he threatens the Wolves and claims he will huff and puff and blow their house in. Of course, we all learned from the original tale that huffing and puffing is not effective against bricks. Unfortunately for the Little Wolves, the Pig also owns a sledgehammer. We have veered off course from the story you were expecting, perhaps?

The story continues with escalating building materials and destruction, coming to something of a twist ending—I do not want to give too much away, but I will say at least that everyone has the chance to live happily ever after. Overall, this is a cute story that will definitely get some laughs out of both children and adults. As I said above, this works well as a read aloud. I can see this being a great addition to a school unit on fairy tales, at any age. However, I think the ideal age group for this one would be middle elementary, around 7 or 8. Although I think younger children would still enjoy the story, I am not sure that they would fully appreciate the “twisted fairy tale” aspect.

Boris’s Thoughts: “I don’t know if I fully appreciate the twisted fairytale aspect. These animals are crazy.”

Stuart Little

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img_5956Book: Stuart Little by E.B. White

Date Read: April 12 to 13, 2021

Rating: 3 (of 5) stars

Back in September 2020, I wrote some about audio books, sharing that I have decided the format is a good fit for revisiting books that I know I have read. I have mostly been accessing these through the free library at my job, as I do not want to invest much in purchasing audio versions of books I already own. I tore through many of the books last summer, and things have fallen off some during 2021. While I am exploring other options for access to audio, I have only picked up a few remaining titles I can still access for free. In April this year, I decided that I needed a little something to listen to while going for a walk. I decided on Stuart Little, as it is one that I know I read long ago, but could remember very little about.

I had some mixed feelings on this one. I think it started with a fine concept for a children’s story, and thought that there were some really cute and engaging chapters. Each chapter seems to function as its own little short story, with the chapters then connected together to tell an overarching story of Stuart’s life. Many of these were fun or silly, most with an element of adventure as well. However, there were a few that fell short for me, especially later in the book after Stuart leaves home. I felt like there was some potential in some of the stories, but was ultimately unsatisfied with how things played out.

For me, the biggest issue is that the story feels incomplete. It does not have a wrapped up ending, the book just stops in the middle of what it seems should be Stuart’s greatest adventure. Stuart is driving north—he is in search of his friend, but has no ideas of where to look or really a clear idea of how he might find her. He stops to have a conversation with a man about the direction he is heading, and then the book is over. Perhaps a vague and open ending like that might be viewed as hopeful in a book for adults, but it really does not fit with the rest of the book; any deeper meaning would certainly go over the heads of children in the glossed over final interaction.

Minka’s Thoughts: “What a mean cat that was! I may be a troublemaker, but at least I’m not MEAN. This book gives a bad name to all cats! Who would write such terrible things? 1 paw!”

Wicked

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img_9295Book: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Date Read: March 19 to June 2, 2021

Rating: 4 (of 5) stars

I chose Wicked as a match for the challenge to read a book by an author I have never read—in this case, an author I own more than one unread book from. I added this one to my shelves around the time that the musical was really taking off. Being a long time fan of the Wizard of Oz film, I was really intrigued by the idea behind the story. Eventually I was able to see the musical, which appeased my curiosity for a bit, and then a less-than-favorable review from a friend had me moving it down the list of upcoming books. This was also right around the time I started college and began accumulating books much faster than I could read them. Somehow, I ended up with the full series on my shelves before ever opening the first book. Seems odd when I consider that my friend’s dislike delayed reading, but did not discourage me from buying the remaining books. The logic of a book hoarder, I suppose.

Despite the span of time it took my to get through this one, I actually quite enjoyed it. It was not exactly what I was expecting it to be, and I will start by saying that the musical was definitely inspired by this story, not truly based upon it. Honestly, I thought this was fitting—the translation from the source text to musical felt similar to that of the original Wizard of Oz story to film. The story itself feels a little flat, with character development skirted a bit in favor of actionable moments. This is morphed a bit, and livened up with music, to create a much more engaging experience. That’s not to say, of course, that lovers of the musical will not enjoy the novel, only that the experience is different. The origin of the Wicked Witch is still there, with Elphaba largely presented as misunderstood, although a bit less sympathetic than in the musical.

I enjoyed that the author used aspects of both the original story and imagery from the film in developing Elphaba’s back-story. Fans of the original Oz stories likely know that the primary tale contains many aspects of political allegory. Keeping true to its origin, this in definitely a tale of politics, much more overtly than Baum’s first Oz tale. Elphaba in essence is a political rebel and refugee; this leads her story to be darker and more adult than other Oz iterations. There are themes and commentaries around politics and religion, good and evil. Although consistently intriguing, it could get dense at times and was certainly not a quick or easy read. In the end, I felt that the effort was worth it. The reader gets a good picture of what can lead a person to be considered wicked—Elphaba has a troubled life, resulting some erratic and desperate behavior which is easily framed by those who feel threatened by her. Even her final interaction with Dorothy seems to be based in a major misinterpretation of motives from multiple ends.

Minka’s Thoughts: “All those familiars, and not one cat. It’s a shame. 2 paws.”

Hollow Kingdom

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img_8797Book: Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Date Read: May 2 to 19, 2021

Rating: 5 (of 5) stars

May brought on the challenge of reading a book that I bought as a new release. Surprisingly, I do not have a ton of these to choose from on my shelves. Knowing how many books are already waiting on my unread shelf, I do my best to avoid truly new releases. I usually push myself to wait for a paperback release, knowing that I can save a little money since I will likely not start reading it right away. It’s also a good way to sort out the books that I truly want to read—if I’m still interested in a new release by the time the paperback comes out, it’s worth adding to my list. Of course, there are exceptions made: usually for certain authors, and in this case for a recommendation in a local bookshop in Northern Michigan.

Hollow Kingdom is a book that took me by surprise. It is a story of the downfall of humanity, told from the perspective of a domesticated crow. The concept was intriguing to me, but a few chapters in I started to question my choice. Our narrator and hero, the crow S.T. (short for Shit Turd), starts out being pretty annoying to me. S.T. loves humanity, sharing all of the things that he learned from his owner, Big Jim. The problem? Big Jim does not seem like a particularly likable guy. The result is a crow who comes off as ignorant and pretentious—the exact qualities that he complains about in other animals. Still, there was a glimmer there of something special in the way he spoke about nature.

As I continued reading, S.T.’s brashness began to subside, making way for a beautiful and tragic description of the crumbling world as nature begins to reclaim the earth. S.T. begins to serve as a bridge in the natural world, with some surprising insights into the connectedness of nature and the role of humans in it. He learns what it means to be a part of the world as a bird, but is also able to use his knowledge of humanity to help the animal world. Through the story, S.T. slowly reveals details about Big Jim in a way that peels back the less appealing aspects of his personality for a look at the core of his humanity—a man who viewed his pets as part of his family, who loved and ended up heartbroken.

Despite the off-putting start and a few ridiculous seeming incidents, this story really hooked me and kind of punched me in the gut. By the end of the story, I was in love with S.T.’s picture of the world. This was a perfect mixture of humor and humanity for me, creating a sad and lovely story. I mean, who would have ever suspected that a book about a crow named Shit Turd could bring one to tears?

Boris’s Thoughts: “I like a bird that recognizes the significance of cats. 4 paws.”

Unread Shelf Progress for May

  • Books Read: 1
  • Books Acquired: 12
  • Total Unread Books: 281

I feel like for the purposes of accountability, I need to comment on my totals update. I definitely splurged this month—the result of a trip to a much-loved bookstore that I do not get to visit often. I am committing to balance for the coming months: more books read than books acquired.