book reviews
Reviews of books that explore the complexities of family throughout history and across cultures.
Be Inspired
Be Inspired Books are your friends, or so I was told growing up. My favorite book as a child was “The Story of Anne Sullivan”. I found it in the library of Riverside elementary school. I had to find a book for a report when I had summer school. I was always curious. I wanted to know how other people lived. I was the baby of the family and was raised by my single mother. She worked hard to provide for my two half-brothers and me. My mom never had time to read to me and when I finally learned to read, it opened my eyes to a new world. I always gravitated toward biographies. The story of Anne Sullivan was one that I loved. Anne was a teacher to Helen Keller. Helen Keller was an American teacher, author and advocate for people with disabilities. Helen was also co-founder of the ACLU.
Veronica SomaratnaPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesBig Bad Wolf
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Yes, you guessed it my favorite bedtime story as a child was “The Three Little Pigs”. For me it was one of those Walt Disney “Little Golden Books” version. It was a second hand book I received from a garage sale for ten cents. I liked the pictures of course. Who says you can’t just a book by its cover. Those pigs were so cute. One playing the fiddle and another the flute the third dancing merrily. I love books that have rhymes or songs in them. I don’t have much of a voice but I like the way the words flow off the page into my ears. You know the part I mean. “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, tra la la la la.” At one point when I was raising my own children I think I memorized the book I read it so often.
Veronica SomaratnaPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesNancy Drew and the Hardy Boys
I was in a foster home with my little sister for almost 3 years with the most wonderful loving couple Deanna and Richard Lancaster. They wanted to adopt us but because our mother knew she could collect welfare from having us with her so that, unfortunately, didn't happen, and let me tell you, I was angry for a very long time about it. However, with the Lancasters, I found my love for reading books, especially mysteries! During our stay with these kind and loving people, Deanna introduced my sister and me to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Mysteries. Deanna was a wonderful woman who worked as a nurse as well as manage a household, with cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking care of us girls and her amazing husband Richard, everyone called him Dick, He was a very kind and thoughtful man, he was a used car salesman by day and on Sundays, he would take us to work with him, we had to sit in the car for a while but eventually he would take us to lunch at a place called Sambos(which was unfortunately torn down because the picture on the building was of a little black boy with a tiger, so they deemed it "racist" which if I am being honest it was.) it always smelled so good there and the food was delicious. Deanna and Dick were also very religious, we went to lots of church and bible studies at other church members' houses and they also had a jewelry sales business they did on the side. This was not junk jewelry, this was real gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and Jade...a lot of Jade. We would take the summers and travel all over California selling these gorgeous pieces. I also learned my love for a lot of good old music like Paul Anka, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Niel Sedaka, Niel Diamond(whom I love to listen to still), and the like. I first started loving Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mysteries when Deanna would read them to us at bedtime, however, my sister would be asleep the first five minutes she was in bed. Deanna would read three to four pages per night so as to keep the suspense up and make the book last longer. She would change her voice to sound like the characters, making dramatic faces that would make me giggle, and was great at leaving me hanging and very excited for bedtime each night.
C. M. SearsPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesThree Little Horses
Let me tell you a story of The Three Little Horses. The strangest children’s book I have ever read. It goes back to when I was a child. My grandmother Irma gave me this book to read because she noticed it had horses in it and I liked horses. Appreciating her rationale, I took the book. I never saw her purchase this book for me so I think she must have had it prior to me being born in 1982. The book “Three Little Horses” was published in 1958; my grandmother immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1957. This book was written by Piet Worm and was probably the most bizarrely illustrated and strangely written children’s book I had ever encountered in my young years. It told me a lot about how secretly odd grandma was.
Nicole CelenceviciusPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesWhen the Wild Things Were
The title of this article may strike a chord with many readers. “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak is a children’s tale that goes beyond being meaningful to just the youth.
L.S. NiceliPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesLove You Forever
Love You Forever is a Canadian picture book written by Robert Munsch and published in 1986. I wasn't born in 1986, I was born in 1998 to a single mother who oddly had a collection of children's books from the 80's at her disposal. She read this book to me every night to the point where the phrase "Love You Forever" became a staple in our tiny household.
The Twits: A reflection on children's literature
“What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays. When a man grows hair all over his face it is impossible to tell what he really looks like.
Charles OldfieldPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesDon't Be A Duck
I don't recall the first time I heard The Ugly Duckling (1843) by Hans Christian Andersen. Growing up in Denmark, I probably knew it off by heart by the time I could read.
Ida StokbaekPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesLove You Forever
"I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.". Those words hit you so differently as a child as opposed to the way you feel them while hearing them as an adult. Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch has always been my favorite bedtime story. I think what had originally drawn me in was the rhythm that you can't help but to form a flow to every time you utter aloud those very words. The more that same phrase is reiterated throughout the story, the more rhythmic it becomes. Honestly, what toddler or adolescent does not start moving to the beat of almost every song they hear. That also makes it memorable.
Sharon SmithPublished 3 years ago in Families"Wild" read which never gets old
There was and still is something deliciously trippy about Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are". I don't know which is crazier -- the storyline about a little boy, Max, who is sent to his room and sails away to an island full of weird and wonderful creatures where he is subsequently anointed King -- or the illustrations themselves, all muted and sepia 1960s colors, grotesque and a tad frightening.
Shirley TwistPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesBaby Bear
When I was a kid, my favourite book was about a baby bear. It was a story of a bear that got lost in the woods and had to get home to his family. It’s a classic introduction to animals with a basic storyline for babies, with the addition of some fake furs and feathers for some of the animals.
Blake SmithPublished 3 years ago in FamiliesThe Penguin That Hated The Cold
I remember as a child loving to have my mom or dad read me a story. I had a whole set of small Disney books that were hardcover. I would listen to those same stories over and over again being read to me at bedtime.
Kelly HornePublished 3 years ago in Families