Children's Books

As well as, in many cases, their motivations.

One book I still love and hold dear to my heart is A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parks; I think I bought the original hardcover in 3rd grade and kept it in its own safe and secure place compared to my other books that were either on my bookshelf or strewn around the place. I love how she got across the setting and time period, I love Tree-ear's determination and desire for improvement in his craft and acceptance from Min, I love each and every character in it, even the harsh and temperamental Min, and I absolutely love the feeling of family no matter the circumstance prevalent in it. Just thinking back on it while writing this out makes me want to dig the book out of the moving boxes and read it again.

I am reading Mousenet.

edited 29th Jun '13 10:50:52 PM by KlarkKentThe3rd

Mr Pleasant says hello.

I read Enid Blyton's Five Find-Outers series. I ship F Atty/Bets :)

Did anyone read "Kid Planet?" Don't know who the author is, but I couldn't find anything by that title having a works page here.

Contrary to what I guessed at the time, it wasn't a sci-fi story at all. It was a toned-down domestic abuse story taking place on the American prairies.

edited 24th Jul '13 10:19:47 PM by Izon

I read Magic by the Lake, which doesn't have a page on here. I'm not sure which tropes to list in it. But it was a fun story, perhaps a little too much on the silly side, but still fun and upbeat.

Basically, siblings wish that their vacation lake would be magic, and suddenly it is. After that, madcap adventures and poorly thought-out wishes cause a lot of trouble. Like wishing that adults would be unable to notice magic. The result is that when the kids are later turned into turtles, no-one can tell and they just see a group of kids who are walking very slowly (other kids see the turtles and freaked out when they had to, for instance, go shopping). Or they take advantage of being invisible to adults when on a magical adventure, harrassing a group of pirates who are unable to see them.

One goofy wish is to be sixteen, which results in the kids (the two who made the wish, not the two who didn't) turning into rude snobs. The other two kids undo the effect by speeding up time; all wishes are undone at morning of the next day, so the result is that the two teens change back into kids, humiliating their dates in the process, and everyone is cranky the next morning due to not having slept thanks to the sped-up time.

It's silly, it's light-hearted, and it's cute.

Last week, I found a couple kids' books at a Goodwill and skimmed them out of curiosity.

The first was The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling, about a boy who is told not to eat chocolate. He comes across a candy store owner, who gives him a piece of chocolate that gives him a King Midas-esque ability to turn everything he touches to chocolate. It starts causing more problems, including constant thirst and desire to eat something else, culminating in him kissing his mom and turning her to chocolate. When I hit that part (which is even shown on the cover), I was thinking, Dude, Not Funny!! So he goes to the candy store guy, who through the power of Deus ex Machina, agrees to give him a second chance and turn his mother back. Everything's right as rain, and he goes back to find a vacant lot where the candy store was. In short, it really didn't hold up very well IMO.

And the second was something called Angus MacMouse Brings Down the House. A cute talking mouse wanders into an opera house and causes an opera singer to hit an unusually high note, so he becomes a part of her tour. I haven't read it yet, but it sounded like it might be enjoyable enough.

Oh, I remember the Chocolate touch. It was kind of stupid. I don't think the Midas Touch really needed to be made "kid friendly". The kid in the book is also a complete moron. In the Midas Touch, King Midas has to avoid touching anything, which is actually really hard. In The Chocolate Touch, he keeps forgetting that anything his mouth touches turns to chocolate and keeps turning random things to chocolate.

edited 28th Jul '13 11:05:34 AM by Zendervai

I remember The Chocolate Touch and having it, but not exactly what it was like. As a kid, I didn't think Dude, Not Funny!, because I didn't see it as attempted humor. I saw it as simply disturbing and assumed that was their intent.

I never read that book, but I very, very clearly remember an episode of Codename Kids Next Door in which a returning antagonist went through the exact same story arc, chocolate and all.

How was that portrayed?

German stereotype kid comes back as a chocolate monster, and about half-way through the episode it's revealed how he got that way. It's was established in an earlier episode that he, like Numbuh 5, is an archaeologist that looks for sweet treats of the ancients (except he's evil, and won't share anything he finds). In a flashback, it's shown that he found that item which lets him turn everything he touches into chocolate. At first, this was awesome - but then he got a craving for a cheeseburger, and when he bit into it, well... chocolate. And the same for all foods. Meant to be a very tragic consequence of his greed.

By the end of the episode, the KND used technology to change him back to normal, while also incarcerating him. Numbuh 5 is nice and brings a cheeseburger to his cell.

This topic is dead?

I've been reading Running Out of Time. It has a very interesting setup for a Fish out of Water story: a girl lives in a town in 1840, and the kids in her town are getting sick from diptheria. Then the girl learns a terrible secret: it's actually 1996, and the town is in fact a historical preserve with severe limitations on how people are allowed to live. Worse, it's a tourist spot for people to gawk at but not visit. Modern conveniences, including modern medicine, are not allowed.

So our protagonist, who has no knowledge whatsoever of the "future", er, present (she has to remind herself not to see it as the future), is snuck out of town and tries to go find a cure while navigating the scary, totally alien world of the US present.

I've read the first 60 pages so far, and it's very interesting. Naturally, there's a huge culture clash, and modern conveniences such as lightbulbs, toilets, and so on are presented as totally alien in the narration, described the way someone who had never seen them before might describe them (lightbulbs are described as being like a miniature sun, for instance). Smooth floors are described as being smoother than anything the finest blacksmith could make.

And our protag is unfamiliar with social changes - she is gobsmacked to encounter black people for the first time, and to find out they're as intelligent as whites. She wonders if the abolitionists in her town did get their wish after all.

Anyway, that's what I'd been reading. It's a shame the Literature forum isn't used that much. This topic, despite not having been posted in for months, is still on the front page!

Ooh! Ooh! I read this book! And looooong before The Village was released, as well. Interesting in that, in Running Out Of Time, it's actually the premise rather than just the twist.

I still remember it pretty well, too. It was interesting that "okay" was a taboo word XD

Won't spoil the rest for you....

Yeah, please no spoilers. :) I plan on reviewing this book when I get finished. Almost halfway through now.

@ Freezair For A Limited Time: Did you ever get around to reading The Wainscott Weasel?

Once again, I keep finding myself picking up Silverwing and then not reading it. I've had this copy two years but just feel too lazy to read.

I finished Running Out of Time. I'm trying to figure out how best to review it. I've got a lot to say, and only 400 words to say it in.

I read that book a while ago :) now watch The Village and see how it compares XD

It sounds like The Village doesn't follow the comparison between the past and the present. What I really liked about this book is just how alien the outside world is.

I reviewed Running Out of Time. Lemme know what you think of the review. That goes for anyone reading this who's curious about the book.

Been reading Harriet The Spy. It's a weird little yarn.

@JMH Oh I read that in Grade 5 for school. Yeah it is pretty odd, Harriet is a strange little girl, with strange friends, who watches strange people.

I remember reading that the author of Harriet the Spy was a butch lesbian who was nicknamed 'Willie' in her town. Harriet has been referred to as a "baby butch". Apparently the author was writing something very personal.

One of her biggest critics was someone who knew her personally, accusing the book of being a "game" that Louise Fitzhugh was making up as she went along.

Article about it.

That's interesting, yeah the fact that a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers really doesn't seem like crossdressing now a days but probably was at the time (it really just confused me about the year it was set in their was hoodies and jeans, but people had servants). But yes it is quite cool, it would have been hard to be gay at such a time.