The Places You Will Go

After Harry

Yes, there is life after Harry Potter ...

Kids with Views

I've chosen to read The View from Saturday, by E. L. Konigsburg, with a new English language tuition student.

I started a re-read last night and was done a couple of hours ago. It's as enjoyable as I remember it - from way back when.

Four slightly unconventional sixth graders become friends and are chosen to represent their school in a general knowledge competition.

The kids (Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian), who call themselves The Souls, take turns to tell the reader about themselves and the events that lead up to them becoming chums and being chosen to be on the school team.

They are good kids - interesting, amusing, smart and kind.

The book mentions how most students are no longer curious. Instead of saying "Now what?" they say "So what?"

Konigsburg wrote Saturday in 1996. I wonder what she makes of things now. My own students are mostly apathetic. They are bored and think there is nothing new or wonderful in this world. There are exceptions. Well, I have one student who seems to care and wonder. And she loves to read.

I also have a student who thought the United Kingdom was in America and had no idea where Venice was.

Saturday talks about turtles, Alice in Wonderland, feminism and calligraphy. The Souls ask questions, dream dreams, plan projects and make a difference. I hope my student will be inspired although he may, initially, feel he is reading about aliens.

The View from Saturday won the 1997 Newberry Medal.

Mini Review: Totto-Chan

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

By Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

Translated by Dorothy Britton

Illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki

Publisher: Kodansha Europe

This is my first Japanese children's book, recommended to me by my bookseller friend, Kit, when she found out that I was trying to read more Japanese fiction.

However, it's actually not a work of fiction, but based on the childhood of its author (a popular Japanese actress, author and talk-show host, philanthropist, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and WWF-Japan director), focusing specifically on her experiences as a student at Tomoe Gaukuen, an experimental school in Tokyo, Japan.

The school was founded by one Sosaku Kobayashi who obviously loved children and had unique ideas about how they should be raised and enducated.

Reading about the school, I was filled with envy and longing. Tomoe no longer exists, but educators can learn much from its example.

The book describes Totto-Chan's adventures as a curious, imaginative little girl. She is deemed "impossible" by the teachers in her first school and is expelled, but Kobayashi welcomes her with open arms, and, for Totto, Tomoe is a dream come true, a place where she is allowed to achieve her fullest potential and given the freedom to explore her suroundings and express herself to her heart's content.

If only schools like that existed today. I'd enrol my kids in a flash.

Totto-Chan is broken up into very short chapters, each one relating a short incident or commenting on an interesting aspect of the school or Totto's life and upbringing. It's an easy read - simple, unaffected and charming - and also rather funny.

Totto and her classmates are cute, but the hero of the book is, without a doubt, Kobayashi who was ever optimistic and always ready to see the good in every child.

For more info on Kuroyanagi, read Wikipedia's entry.

Jolly Hockey Sticks!

Links to the websites of the authors mentioned in my Tots to Teens story A Genre for Girls can be found in the Storybook People sidebar of this blog. These links will tell you everything you need to know about the authors and their books.

If you're interested in purchasing girlsown books that are out-of-print (most are), try searching for them at the Bookfinder website. You can also try your luck with Girls Gone By Publishers, an independent concern that re-publishes out-of-print girlown novels. At GGB, you will also find links to other bookdealers who sell girlsown novels.   

Last but not least, the Girlsown mailing list is very useful and a lot of fun for anyone who is a fan of the genre. To find out more, check out its FAQ pages.

Mini Review: Curtain Up

Title: Curtain Up aka Theatre Shoes

Author: Noel Streatfield

Publisher: Random House

Where I Bought This Book: At the Student’s Service Centre in Batu Pahat, Johore, in 1979! My edition is, IIRC, published by Dolphin Books. The cover is red and shows a backstage scene.

Main Characters:
1. Sorrel
2. Mark
3. Holly

What It’s All About: It’s the Second World War and the Forbes children receive word that their father, a sailor with the Royal Navy, is missing in action. They are sent to live with their maternal grandmother who is head of a famous theatrical family. Sorrel, Mark and Holly are expected to be talented and are enrolled in a school for dramatic arts, incidentally the same school that the Fossil children attend in Ballet Shoes. The book describes the children’s life with their grandmother, how they adjust to their new school, how they interact with their cousins, and how they take to being part of a theatrical family and cope with their own talent.

What I like About It: I like that we get a peek at how things are with the Fossils (the Forbes receive scholarships from Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil, and communicate with them through letters). I also really enjoy reading about “Grandmother” who is this fascinating and rather domineering, larger-than-life character. Best of all are the detailed descriptions of the children's school, dress rehearsals and performances. And I love the way Sorrel develops and blossoms as an actress.

Other Books I’ve Read by the Same Author: See My Favourite Streatfields.

If You Like The Sound of this Book, You Should Also Check Out These Titles:
1. Ballet Shoes, also by NS
2. Lorna Hill's ballet books

Name of Reviewer: Daphne Lee

Send in a Mini Review by filling out the form (Download mini_review_form.doc) and emailing it to me.