Egg & Spoon

Maguire, Gregory. Egg & Spoon. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2014.

This past week I read Egg & Spoon. The author also read a book that I have previously read called Wicked which is now a musical. This Gregory Maguire book is written for a younger audience and tells the story of two Russian girls. Things only seem to be going downhill for both Elena and her tiny town of Miersk. There are very few people still living in the village but there doesn’t seem to be enough food for the few of them. That’s when the train comes to town. It carries more riches than Elena could ever dream of. And it also carries Cat; a bright girl with a rich Aunt. She’s on her way to the Tsar’s ball. The two girls soon form an uncertain friendship and when Elena ends up on the train and Cat ends up off of it, the girls aren’t exactly sure what to do. As both girls struggle to survive in their new conditions, they begin to realize what the other is going through. And with Elena’s and possibly Cat’s lives at stake things could be taking a turn for the worst. Plus, due to both of the girls, Baba Yaga, and the missing Fire Bird; all of Russia could be turning bad. I absolutely loved this book and how well written it was. Gregory Maguire has a unique writing style that is beautiful and fluid. His interpretations of Russian folk lore were unique and the narration was well done. I would most certainly recommend this book.

SOL6: Kindergarten

I don’t remember very much from my first day. But I can somehow recall the small moments and little conversations. I was five years old, three months away from being six. I was nervous and I must say; the tiniest bit confused. Why were we driving so long to go to a school that was so far away? Why wasn’t I going to school by my house like all the other kids on my street? I guess it was just a prettier school. I don’t remember the car ride, or first seeing the building. But I do remember first seeing my teacher. She had short black hair, round glasses, and a friendly smile. She said hello and welcomed me and then I’m not quite sure. But I remember meeting my first friends at my new school. I was playing with these little colorful blocks in various shapes when they came up to me. They had been in this class last year and were already friends. They just sat down next to me and started to talk. The one girl had curly brown hair; like mine but even curlier. She was friendly enough and kept our five year old conversation going with a few short sentences. The other girl was smaller and had long black hair. She talked much more than the first girl and stopped only occasionally so she could hear what we had to say. Sometimes she was talking so fast that I couldn’t understand what she was saying. She confused me but I didn’t really mind. I started to talk to them and they talked back so I decided that these were my friends. And that’s really all that I remember from my first day of kindergarten.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh. Burbank, CA: Mouse Works, 1994.

For this week’s blog I read the classic story Winnie-the-Pooh. I will start by saying that I am a fan of Winnie-the-Pooh everything. I love the story and I love the characters. At the moment I am reading like three different books and was trying to figure out what book to blog about so I decided to spend a little bit of time reading about a bear and a boy and all of the other creatures of the Hundred Acre Wood. I must say that this book is often thought of as a book for younger children, but honestly I love this book is a well written book for all people. It is a beautiful and youthful collection of short stories all written using the same set of characters. It is an endless collection of adventures. While reading this book I watched Eeyore find a tail, Piglet try to catch a Heffalump, Rabbit be far from helpful, Kanga be confused, Pooh receive a gift, and the most heartbreaking of all: I saw Christopher Robin grow up all throughout the stories. This book is timeless and the original illustrations make it even lovelier. It is a beautiful story that everyone should read. It doesn’t matter how old you are. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve already read it. Read it again. Just read it again.

                                           

SOL 5: Pei Wei

It's our third-time, post-volleyball, Friday-night visit to Pei Wei. The reddish ordering half of the restaurant is loud and feels like movement. While the other yellowish side is quiet and calm with people minding their own business, wrapped up in their own endless string of small talk and eating. It smells good but not really good, sort of like fake good but somehow still good. Instead of enjoying my own line of small talk with Ellie and my Mom, I'm here writing the Slice Of Life that I just couldn't fit into my day. Oh well, better late than never right? Right? Anyway there are a lot of people in the take out line with us. Well it's not so much of a line it's more of a-Woah. Woah. WOAH. There is like this huge fire that engulfs the restaurant, swallowing the tiny building with blue-orange flames. Okay, so maybe that didn't happen but there was a bit of a fire. And sure it was contained and purposeful, but I was still not prepared for the trauma that I was thrust into at this moment. Okay back to what we were talking about. Which was... Oh yeah! The take out "line" aka awkward grouping of strangers brought together by the weird silence of waiting for decent food. And suddenly YES! YESYESYESYESYESYESYES! Food! FOOD! Okay bye Pei Wei see you next Friday. Maybe I'll stay next time and we'll sit at our usual table. They should really start reserving it for us. Yeah that's right people! You can't sit here right now. This is our table. Okay, see you then.

All the Bright Places

Niven, Jennifer. All the Bright Places. New York: Random House Childrens, 2015.

This past week, I read the book All the Bright Places. I would like to start by saying that Linda said that this book would be sort of like The Fault in Our Stars. I don’t agree. I read that book. It was good. This was better, so much better. So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way I may as well move on to the summary. The book begins when Theodore Finch meets Violet Markey on the ledge of the school bell tower. It’s not that either one of them is going to jump. Finch went up to further his thoughts on death. And Violet was considering it but as soon as her feet were on the ledge she wasn’t so sure. So Finch helps her to get off. And the rumor spreads that Violet saved the life of Theodore Finch, the freak. But he doesn’t care. And the two only get more involved when they become partners in a school project where they find the “wonders of their state”. They become a bigger part in each other’s lives than they ever thought was possible. And they begin to realize that everyone has issues. Okay, so that was not the best summary but please believe me when I say that it is a spectacular book. And when this book totally blows up and everyone ever has read it I hope that you all remember that I finished this book on January 28th and reviewed it on February 4th before it got popular. This book was beautiful and heartbreaking and I absolutely loved it all the way.