The Pig Who Sang to the Moon

by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

This book makes a very strong case for turning vegan. In it, Masson looks closely at the emotional lives of common farm animals: the pig, cow, goat, sheep, chicken. Also ducks and geese. He presents evidence that these animals are quite sensitive, amiable and sociable creatures, which made them easy to domesticate in the first place. They make friends, often from other species. They get lonely, mourn the loss of their young or companions, show fear at approaching death. They display gratitude and trust towards those who treat them kindly. They like music.They can dream. One scientist, Masson informs me, says that even bees dream (about flowers). Yes, the book is full of anecdotes but there is also scientific evidence presented of how certain animals' brains have very similar functions to ours. Of course they can feel: emotions are more basic than logical thought (and so many animals display that, too). So, the point of it all is that these animals have the same basic needs and desires we have: to live comfortably, be with their companions, raise their offspring. Knowing that should influence how we treat them. I was aware before of the awful conditions pigs, chickens and cows are usually kept in, but did not know other things for example how goose down is stripped from living birds (kept in crowded conditions) so that they can grow more feathers and be stripped again. It is so painful for them they often go into shock, and after four or five "pluckings" they die. It seems to me that sheep are goats are not treated so badly as the others, but Masson points out that we still take their young away from them, cause them stress and pain and often misunderstand or ignore their needs. Not to mention eating lambs: Mary had a little lamb / Her father shot it dead / And now it goes to school with her / Between two chunks of bread.

A tough thing, to be the child of a farmer. But the book isn't all about animal distress! Much of it is intriguing accounts of how how animals feel, the depth of their emotional lives. Other things too, like the fact that in ancient Egypt pigs were not eaten but valued for their work in agriculture- they were used to thresh grain and to plant it, too. Goats show a sense of humor. They don't actually eat tin cans but will eat the paper labels off cans, or shirts off a clothesline! Wild ducks know which ponds on private land are safe during hunting season, and will flock there the day before the season opens. How do they know? Pigs' skin and organs are so similar to humans that scientists are studying how to use them in transplants. And more. Compelling book.

Rating: 4/5      277 pages, 2003

Note: if you have written about this book on your blog, do tell me know in the comments. For some reason google blog search fails me: I get pages upon pages of results from top-name booksellers, animal-rights websites (relevant, but not what I want) and media sources, not blogs. I looked through eight pages of results without finding one normal reader's blog. Why?

more TBR

My list is just getting longer and longer....

While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell - The Lost Entwife
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson- James Reads Books
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley- Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity
Let the Tornado Come by Rita Zoey Chin- Bermuadonion's Weblog
California by Edan Lepucki- My Porch
Beg by Rory Freedman
A Game for Swallows by Zeina Abirached- Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity
Landline by Rainbow Rowell- Things Mean a Lot
Intern by Sandeep Jauhar
Doctored by Sandeep Jauhar- Caroline Bookbiner
All My Patients Kick and Bite by Jeff Wells
Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow by Dr. Jan Pol
A Feathered River Across the Sky by Joel Greenberg

A Squirrel Forever by Douglas Fairbairn
Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony
Second Ascent by Alison Osius
Bound by Night by Larissa Ione- Musings of  a Bookish Kitty
On Cats- Doris Lessing
Tobermory by Saki
Particularly Cats by Doris Lessing
Animals Are My Life by Eddie Straiton
Blind Corners- Geoff Tabin
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The Old Age of El Magnifico by Doris Lessing

James Herriot

The Life of a Country Vet
by Graham Lord

James Herriot is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have all five of his books on my shelf, used to have a collection of cat stories too, until I realized that was redundant (the stories being selected from the other books). My children have a few of the picture-book versions on their shelf, too. So I was curious to read this biography when I found it at the library.

The first thing I learned was that the real Herriot is named Alfred Wight, and the real James Herriot is a footballer (soccer player)- Wight was an avid soccer fan and used the name of one of his favorite players. I read about Wight's parents and his childhood in poverty-stricken Glasgow during the 1920's. The book started to get interesting when it reached Wight's years in veterinary college. He dreamed of working with small animals- cats and dogs- but work was hard to find so he took a position in a Yorkshire practice that mainly served farmers. According to Graham Lord (who knew the man personally), Wight had always kept diaries, was an intelligent well-read man, and practiced his writing skills with dedication. He didn't get his first book published until he was in his fifties, and the big story of this book is how that amazing success came about, and then just kept growing. Wight based his stories on real life, but changed a lot of facts, names, personalities to keep characters' true identities obscured (though that didn't last- some were incensed to find how they had been portrayed, others flattered), rearranged dates to suit his narrative, used anecdotes and tales told in veterinary school, and purely invented others. In short, his books are more than fifty percent fictional. But the basis in reality is so solid that they feel true, and are so well-written, warm and funny and down-to-earth that they became wildly popular. So I was right when I shelved my collection of Herriot books among the fiction.

It was revealing to read about the struggles in Wight's life, about his personal crises and health issues, his private griefs. For me the best part of the biography were the chapters that described his experiences with the publication process, how his growing fame changed the village he lived in, how he refused to let it change his life, even when in later years fans were lining up outside his surgery door every morning for autographs. He was always kind and friendly to his readers, but got sometimes got upset at their intrusion as well. He continued working as a vet, even when he was a multimillionaire and didn't need to, and others urged him to just take up writing full-time. Being a vet was his life, writing was on the side. I admired that.

Rating: 3/5    276 pages, 1997

more opinions:
The World is Quiet Here 101
Engine Summer

Pip and Posy

The Little Puddle
by Axel Scheffler

A mouse and bunny friend play all day together- walking their dolls, building a city, pretending to be lions. They are having so much fun the bunny forgets to stop when he has to pee, and has an accident on the floor. His friend reassures him, helps clean up, loans some dry clothes, and they continue playing. Next time he has to go, bunny boy remembers to use the potty. And they take a bubble bath together. Cute little reminder for kids who are potty training (mine is not perfect at it yet so this was a nice book for her).

Rating: 3/5    24 pages, 2011

more opinions:
There's a Book
Read with Rosie
Kids' Book Review
Buzz Words

The Caged Virgin

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I was curious to read another book by this author after finishing Infidel; have been waiting for it to come off the library hold list. Ended up just skimming through, reading parts that caught my eye. It's a treatise on women's rights, especially in regards to how they are treated in some Islamic countries. Main topics are how women are suppressed and/or mistreated by men, arranged marriages, genital mutilation, the lack of trust and respect women are given, and their often dismal lack of education. Plus all of the social fallout from the above, in certain cultures and places in the world. And what she suggests we do about it. This is important information, but it can also be dry reading- personally I absorb information better when it is embedded in storytelling. So when the author told about several different women she assisted as a translator among recent immigrants to the Netherlands, I paid attention. When she went into moral philosophy, social criticism and plans of action, I quickly lost focus and began skipping pages. Sorry. I did notice that she included in her book advice and instructions explicit for Muslim women who wanted to run away from their family situation! Kind of a short guideline on what not to do, what to expect, how to plan. I also found interesting a section that went through the ten commandments, and gave her thoughts on each one. Also very interesting her description of the film that caused so much controversy, including the relatively short script for it. Read objectively, it did not seem as offensive as I first imagined- but I cannot really judge, as I haven't seen it. I imagine the visual has a greater impact. Likewise I can't give a firm opinion on this book, because I didn't read it all, just some pages here, some pages there. A lot of it felt repetitive to me. I very recently read her opinion on all the same topics, her stance and her personal stories regarding them, in the previous book (with a lot more detail to the stories) so I suppose that's why I couldn't stay focused here- not enough new material it seemed.

Abandoned        187 pages, 2004

more opinions: Kulna: For All of Us

anyone else?

Fowl Weather

by Bob Tarte

The description of a household full of pets, where two people live with over thirty animals including parrots, ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, a few cats. Oh, and occasional wild birds that people bring over to be cared for until they can fly free. I was expecting to read mostly about what life was like with so many animals, but to my surprise it had a similar theme to the last book I read- dealing with a parent's advancing age. In this case, the onset of dementia and eventually alzheimer's. Also meddlesome neighbors, inept applicants for jobs, the search for a competent pet sitter, and many awkward moments dealing with cold weather and wading-pool duck ponds. It was curious and amusing, but only to a point. Nearly every other sentence seems to be stuffed with sarcasm and forced humor, so much that sometimes I had to stop and read a sentence over again to get what he was really saying. Maybe I was too tired, but sometimes I just wanted a straight description, without the adding joking. I was also interested to find that Tarte likes bird-watching, believes in omens and is suspicious of the supernatural when strange noises are heard at night. Those last two, with all their accompanying detail, got really old on me. And I'll give you fair warning: lots of animals die in this book. Of old age, unforseen accidents, illness, sometimes no known reason at all.

I read a previous book by this author, and saw this one at the library, thought it might be good too. He's got another one about cats, someday I'll probably get to that book.

Rating: 2/5     305 pages, 2007

more opinions:
Stay At Home Bookworm
One-Minute Book Reviews

The Nature of Dogs

by Mary Ludington

Another oversized book I borrowed from the public library to enjoy its pictures for a while. Begins with the author's notes about why she took up photography, her goal to photograph every dog breed, and her reasons for taking pictures of the dogs outdoors, letting them just do their thing while she recorded them with the camera.

The results are some striking images. They are all black-and-white, some with timeless look of sepia tone. I did not care for the many blurred images, which really do nothing to give you an idea of the breed's conformation or appearance. Each breed page has a bit of its history (quite interesting) and characteristics, especially in regards to how the physical traits were developed to specialize the dog in its job. For example, she says that the long loose skin folds on a basset or bloodhound's face "stir up scent" from the ground, "swishing scent particles into the oversized nostrils" to help them follow a trail. I was surprised to read that the wrinkles on a bulldog's head "functioned as gutters to divert the bull's blood" when it was historically used in bull baiting. Also interesting to read that the bull terrier was bred to have naturally upright ears when cropping was banned, and that doberman pinschers descend from a dog owned by a tax collector, Karl Friedrich Louis Doberman, who wanted a dog that would "offer protection from thieves and encourage reluctant taxpayers to pay their dues." When I read of the endearingly catlike traits of the shiba inu, including its habit of purring, yodeling and screeching instead of barking, I thought of the basenji dog (which wasn't featured). There are many other intriguing facts about sixty various dog breeds in here.

Also included are brief essays by Temple Grandin, Kevin Kling, Winona LaDuke, James Hillman and Mary Gaitskill with Peter Trachtenberg, written specifically for this book. On various things such as the keen senses dogs use, and the nature of their relationship with humans. I especially liked Winona's essay about reservation dogs, which included a native american legend about how dogs became human companions. And the final essay by Gaitskill and Trachtenberg, which imagines the marriage of a cat and dog and is formatted as an interview with each species (about the traits of the other, and what it is like to live with them) was very amusing.

You can see many more of Ludington's photographs here.

Rating: 3/5       176 pages, 2007

more opinions:
Dog Art Today
Humor Books

Wife in the North

by Judith O'Reilly

This book is about a woman who loved London, but her husband convinced her to move to Northumberland with two young boys. She was pregnant as well. And then he continued commuting into London, often spending weeks away. I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped to. A lot of it felt negative- her complaints about her husband, missing her social life in the city, trying to fit into a rural community. I could relate to the parts about being a mother and having a new baby, some of the cute things her boys said really made me smile. She also had to deal with helping her elderly parents, rennovating their home and renting another in the meantime- thus moving several times, and trying to help her son overcome a bullying issue at school. At the same time she talks about starting to keep her journal online in a blog format, and the repercussions when other mothers realized she was publicly writing about their school. It seemed like most of the book was her complaints, but then again people are more inclined to write about the bad times and let off pressure, then to write about the good things I guess. Some predicaments were funny, others very familiar and then there were parts I just couldn't relate to at all (not being someone who pines after city living).

Rating: 3/5      346 pages, 2008

more opinions:
Book Chase
On My Bookshelf
The Book Nest
Bermudaonion's Weblog

Hide and Seek

by Taro Gomi

Cute little book that has hidden pictures. One page shows an object, on the facing side it's hidden within an image. It's cleverly done. In a line of giraffes; one has candles on its head instead of horns. A group of raccoons- one has a striped sock instead of a tail. A rooster's comb is a glove, a praying mantis body is a green pencil, the negative space in an alligator's mouth forms a toothbrush. And so on. My favorite is the last page, which has a group of children. A spoon and fork are hidden in the shapes of a girls' pigtails. Fun.

Rating: 3/5      24 pages, 1990

more opinions:
Picture This Book
Waking Brain Cells

The Boss Baby

by Maria Frazee

This cute little book depicts a new baby as a corporate boss. Black and white onesie styled like a business suit, holding long lists of demands, crying and screaming to call his parents to "meetings". Cute metaphor to how a baby can completely overtake a home, get mom and dad hopping to do his bidding, demand instant results (even when no one can figure out what he really wants) and get all his perks: music played to soothe him, drinks prepared round the clock and so on. Until the baby's "staff" of mom and dad collapse in complete exhaustion. Baby calls for attention, but gets no response. So he must find a new way to communicate. Really cute. My little girl just thinks the baby is being silly, it's parents who will really get a chuckle out of this one, recognizing how demanding infants can really be.

Borrowed this one from the library. It's fun to read the author's words about how her concept for the book evolved here.

Rating: 3/5       36 pages, 2010

more opinions:
Maw Books Blog
Help Readers Love Reading
The Book Chook
Munchkin's Book Journey

The Cat Whisperer

by Mieshelle Nagelschneider

A book all about cat behavior and how to make it fit what you want to live with. Why cats do what they do- the basis being that cats are in nature solitary hunters out to protect their resources- so to have a peaceful housecat you must make sure they feel secure and don't have to ward off rival cats (whether in the house or out of it) or feel crowded at feeding spots and the like. That's just a little bit of it, but you get the idea. The author discusses in very specific detail how to handle undesirable things your cat might do such as soiling things outside of the litterbox, marking places with urine, clawing furniture, yowling in the middle of the night, sucking on clothing or hair, attacking people and/or other cats and so on. Also issues like how to introduce a new cat to an established cat in the home, how to help a cat settle in after a move and more. Points out when conventional advice is not the best to follow, and what medical issues could cause common behavior problems. In each instance she explains things from your cat's viewpoint- why they are probably doing what they do, and how to redirect their behavior- mostly by removing the stresses from their environment and providing more appropriate outlets for their needs. I don't currently live with a cat, but I do still help take care of my cat who now lives with my boyfriend and we've had to deal with him urinating outside of the box. A lot of the ideas in this book were very helpful (he hasn't had issues in a while, but I have a better idea now of what might have been causing them).

Some things of interest I learned from this book:
Cats and humans have similar pheromones, which makes it easy for cats to bond with people.
Cats communicate with each other mostly by scent, but learn that people respond better to vocalization.
You can transfer the scent off a cat's own body to alter its behavior, how it feels about things in the home or other cats and people it lives with.
Cats are good at "time-sharing" and can have peacefully overlapping territories because they use different resources at different times of the day.
Cats naturally live by hunting and eat small, frequent meals throughout the day- so she suggests you feed them more often in small portions, or leave food available all day long. I always thought that would make a cat fat.
I knew cats' temperaments could be shaped by early socialization or lack of it, but learned that they can also have behavior problems later in life if they suffer from malnutrition as kittens. Malnutrition can actually affect parts of the brain so it don't work properly later on.
How a cat ideally likes his litterbox placed was not exactly what I thought before.
Most cats like to be petted on the head and sides of the face, not along the body, back or near the tail.
Cats don't like to drink near the places where they eat- because in nature their dead prey could contaminate water. So she says that's why some cats prefer to drink out of your water glass, a dripping faucet, or the toilet.
A cat can feel frustrated when it plays with things you manipulate, but never let it catch. And, she says you should finish a prey-sequence play session not only by letting your cat grab and "kill" the toy, but also by feeding your cat or giving it a treat- then it will feel really satisfied.

A lot of things I never really considered before. Might just get a copy of this book to keep on my shelf. I found this one at the public library, just browsing my favorite section.

Rating: 4/5    310 pages, 2013

more opinions:
Book Reviews from an Avid Reader
the Conscious Cat
Different Time, Different Place

Within Reach

My Everest Story
by Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin

This guy starting climbing some serious mountains when he was only thirteen years old. He was the youngest to summit Mount Pisco and Huascaran in Peru at fourteen, summited Aconcagua in Argentina when he was fifteen then went on to climb Everest, summit Mount Rainier and Ama Dablam in Nepal the same year and returned to Everest and tackled Kilimanjaro in Africa when he was sixteen. And those aren't the only climbs he did. It's a pretty amazing thing.

And a very engaging book to read. It reads like it's pulled straight out of his journal. Snippets of this and that, first impressions, little stories about other people he's met, glimpses of his family and most of all the climbing. Why he does it. His motivation, his meticulous preparations, his focus on safety and physical conditioning, the necessity of finding sponsors and how he got people to back him. All the time and effort that go into preparing for each climb. Once again I was reminded of the sheer mass of everything - distance travelled, heaps of gear, collection of people supporting or coaching or carrying stuff for others, the back and forth up the mountainside to acclimate, the huge force of it all for one last push to get just a few people to the top. And the many who don't make it. Very sobering. I can understand the thrill and drive that makes people climb mountains like Mark did, but I would never ever do it myself.

He made it very clear that it was his desire to climb mountains, that his parents only let him go because he prepared so strictly, that he studied a lot on the road and in camps to keeping up with his schooling. That it was his will and hard work that got him there. I found quite interesting his ideas on what advantages young climbers might have over older climbers who carried more experience, and also the different view of things when near the end of the book Mark was acting as a guide and support to a wealthy family who paid someone to get them up a mountain, instead of working hard to prepare themselves. In the book Mark often mentions his dreams to become a medical doctor, but it seems he is now an inspirational speaker.

It's an interesting, vivid and quick read. Got me thinking of all the other mountain-climbing books I've heard about and would like to read sooner rather than later.

Rating: 3/5      224 pages, 1998

more opinions:
Everest Book Report

Catch That Baby!

by Nancy Coffelt

Baby brother has a bath and then doesn't want to get dressed. Instead he goes running naked through the house. On each page, another family member joins in the chase. My little girl giggles at the nakedness (you only see his butt) and the romp through the house. She loves pointing out where the baby is hiding behind furniture on certain pages. In the end the little boy puts his clothes on by himself- all the wrong way of course, which elicits even more giggles! The illustrations by Scott Nash, ink line and color, are lively and fun.

Rating: 3/5     34 pages, 2011

more opinions:
Waking Brain Cells
BooksForKidsBlog
Sal's Fiction Addiction
Rosemary's Reading Circle
The Little Mom

Outfoxing the Fox

by Friederike Rave

A little fox wakes up one day and decides he doesn't have to go to school, because "foxes are clever enough already." But when he visits the henhouse to get a chicken for his dinner, the hens are far too smart for him. They pretend to be sick, insisting they'd love to help him out, but he doesn't want to eat a sick chicken- he should wait until they are better. The fox agrees this seems best. Each night he returns to the henhouse, and then hens are progressively wrapped up in more clothes, sneezing and coughing, claiming to still be sick. Finally the hungry fox gives up on chickens and with a bit of luck steals a hunter's sandwich. Pleased to have a good meal at last, he tucks into his sandwich planning to go visit the chickens again tomorrow. But they won't be there- you can see their getaway plan on the last page.

This is a fun book, with lively illustrations and some silly situations that make my little girl giggle. But there's a few things that bug me about it. One is the idea that this fox is skipping school- yet there's no mention of school brought up again, he doesn't learn some tricks or skills somewhere and then try them out as I half-expected. No parent figures in the story at all either. Another is that on most pages the hens are painting swathes of the page white, or rolling out white paper (see the cover). First time I read the story I thought this was part of their plan to fool the fox- maybe they were making everything white like winter, to back up their "sick with a cold" ruse. Then I realized it was a visual joke in the background: then hens are just making white space for the text. But it felt like it ought to be part of the story!

Regardless, it's a book my three-year-old really enjoys, so I shouldn't be so critical. But for myself, it feels kind of awkward. Some parts just don't fit together.

Rating: 2/5      28 pages, 2010

more opinions:
Jean Little Library

Dandelions

by Eve Bunting

This is the story of a family that moves west across the plains in a covered wagon: a father, expectant mother and two daughters. They settle on a claim in Nebraska Territory, but there are no near neighbors. The pictures show how wide, flat and empty the land seems. The older girl narrates the story, telling how lonely they feel. They have to do everything for themselves: sow the crops, dig a well, build a house. When driving three hours to the nearest homestead they can no longer see their sod home, swallowed up in the expanse of prairie grasses. Near the end of the book the older girl accompanies her father into town while her mother and younger sister stay with neighbors (there's some sibling jealousy here!) She's anxious about leaving her mom and sister behind, but excited to see the town. It's full of shops, dust and strangers. Just as they are leaving to return home, she spots a clump of bright yellow flowers growing in a corner- dandelions. She wants to dig them up and take home to her mother. Of course we see dandelions as a pesky weed, but the tough plant was a spot of brightness to them. And it made me smile to see what they did with the flowers: planted them on the sod roof of the house! So they could see it from afar, a bright patch of gold above the prairie grass. The illustrations are oil paintings by Greg Shed, with lifted out areas that show the texture of canvas underneath. I remember learning this painting method in art school and I really admire how it's done here.

Rating: 4/5      52 pages, 1995

more opinions:
Katie's Corner
Children's Books
Collaboration Cuties

50 Below Zero

by Robert Munsch

A little boy wakes up in the middle of the night, hears a strange sound and finds his father sleeping in the kitchen- on top of the fridge! He yells at his dad to wake up, then goes back to bed. Wakes up a little later to find his father asleep in the garage, on top of the car- yells at him, goes back to bed. Repeat scenario in more and more strange places. Finally after finding his dad asleep outside in the snow, he pulls his dad inside, ties him by the toe to a door handle with a long rope, and goes back to bed rest assured that his dad won't get into a mess again. But it's mom who wakes up next time...

My kid thinks this story is really silly (which it is) but I find myself wondering if the author meant to depict sleepwalking? Reading a few other reviews online I realize that this is a shortened version, I bet the full story makes more sense. My three-year-old picked this one off the shelf at the public library.

Rating: 3/5       22 pages, 1986

more opinions:
02b heavenly minded
Back to Books
Where Would I be Without Books?

Butterfly House

by Eve Bunting

A young girl rescues a caterpillar from a jay that would eat it. Her grandfather teaches her how to raise the caterpillar, feeding it leaves and giving it twigs to climb on. She makes it a home in a box, decorated with colorful drawings of leaves and flowers. She watches the caterpillar grow until it makes a chrysalis. When the butterfly emerges, the girl is sad because her grandfather insists she must now let it go. Then the story leaps ahead and we see the girl as an old woman herself, with a garden full of flowers. The butterflies come in great numbers to her garden every summer, filling the air with color. Her neighbors wonder what is her secret: they grow the same flowers and don't have as many butterfly visitors. But she knows and smiles to herself: the butterfly she saved long ago and cared for so tenderly, has returned with its generations of descendants to show their love back to her.

Another lovely nature book illustrated by Greg Shed. The prose is very lyrical, arranged on the each page like a poem. Not only does it show children the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly, but also how to be compassionate to small creatures, and the importance of letting wild things live free. In the back a brief afterward by the author gives instructions on how to raise a caterpillar. It's very specific about giving the caterpillar a suitable living habitat and food, keeping it clean, leaving it alone at the proper time, and releasing the butterfly.

Rating: 3/5    36 pages, 1999

more opinions:
Livin' Lovin' and Learnin'
LadyD Books

Sneakers, the Seaside Cat

by Margaret Wise Brown

This is a nice, simple story about a cat who goes with his family to visit the seashore and explores the beach environment. Everything is new for Sneakers- the cold ocean water he dips his paw into, large seagulls who aren't afraid of cats, tiny shrimp jumping on the sand, sounds roaring distantly in a seashell. His most exciting encounter is a crab that pinches his toes. And then he watches the mysterious fog roll in. The last page has an odd little rhyme the cat sings to himself on the way home in the backseat of the car which felt out of place to the rest of the story- I almost don't want to read that part aloud when I share the book with my kid.

I like the illustrations by Anne Mortimer- they are very charming, with some lovely detail- the individual hairs on the cat's coat, barnacles on the rocks, feathers on the gull's wings. Very nice. The author of this book wrote the famous Goodnight Moon. I would never have noticed if it wasn't mentioned on the cover!

Rating: 3/5      28 pages, 1995

more opinions:
Reading for My Kids

Days of the Blackbird

by Tomie de Paola

I will tell you about this book starting with the end: the author's explanation. De Paola relates how he once dined in a restaurant in northern Italy on a very cold day at the end of January. The proprietor told him that in the area of Italy he was from, the last three days of January, coldest of all the year, were known as the Days of the Blackbird because "it gets so cold that the white doves hide in the chimney tops to stay warm. And when they come out, they are black from the soot." Inspired by the imagery, de Paola wrote this fable-like tale about a young girl and her father, Duca Gennaro.

They both enjoy the songs of birds in their courtyard garden all summer, and wait through winter for the birds to return in spring. One year Gennaro falls ill, and his daughter worries that he will not survive the winter without the hope the birdsong gives him. She begs the birds to stay, giving them food and shelter. But as the days get colder and colder, more birds leave for the south. Only one remains, her favorite white dove. In the dead of winter the bird sits in a chimney top to keep warm at night, only coming out to eat and sing at the window. On the third day the bird has turned black from the soot and is renamed La Merla. When spring finally comes, Gennaro has recovered and La Merla gladly welcomes back the other birds. In this story the bird remains black for ever after.

It's a beautiful tale, enriched with depictions of a bygone era in Italy (or so I imagine, the time period of the story is not exactly specified) with dress styles, the architecture of the homes, cultural holidays and more. The narrative is a bit sophisticated for my three-year-old, so I paraphrase a little when reading to her, she still likes the story with its pretty birds and the devotion of a girl to her father.

There's another version of the blackbird fable shared on one of the blogs linked to below.

Rating: 4/5     32 pages, 1997

more opinions:
loving every leaf
Our Little Library
Biery's Book Blog

Have You Seen My Cat?

by Eric Carle

In his classic cut-paper collage style, Eric Carle introduces different cat species from around the world. The delivery method is simple and fun as well as instructive. A boy goes looking for his missing cat, and people of different cultures (identifiable by costume and background elements) point out various felines to him, from a fluffy persian cat to a wild bobcat, fierce tiger, black panther, african lion, speedy cheetah and so on. Each time the boy asserts: this is not my cat! In the end (looking exasperated) he asks a couple on a park bench and finds his own cat at last- with a nice surprise. We've borrowed this book from the library several times, my kid likes it so much.

Rating: 3/5      28 pages, 1987

Four Boots One Journey

by Jeff Alt

This book is about a husband and wife team who hiked the John Muir Trail. They set off on their 220-mile journey shortly after the author's wife lost her brother to suicide. They made their hike a campaign for mental health awareness- wanting to inform people that depression is readily treatable, and how beneficial exercise in the great outdoors can be. Mostly the book is about their walk on the trail- the long miles, great views, a few encounters with wildlife, difficulties overcome, how their relationship changed and grew during the hike, the variety of people they encountered and so on. It's a good story and for a great cause, but not the most compelling reading. I wished for a little more depth and insight, that's all. I finished reading it last night, but can't think of anything very memorable to tell about it. Read it if you enjoy hiking and outdoor adventures, otherwise it probably won't be interesting.

Also the presentation left something to be desired- I noticed quite a few typos and the map at the beginning of the book is laughable. It's so nondescript I am puzzled why it was even included. The photographs are poor quality too. I saw most of them in full color as they were included in the promotional package; nice enough in that format. But they did not covert to black-and-white printing well. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher. It has also been published under the title A Hike for Mike.

Rating: 2/5      225 pages, 2005

Princess Hyacinth

by Florence Parry Heide

Princess Hyacinth is different. She floats. She has to wear heavy weighted princess clothes, or be tied down to the furniture! Her life is tedious, because she can't play outside like other children- her parents are worried she will just float away. She can't go swimming, and a walk in the garden is a drag with all those heavy clothes. One day the Princess sees a man holding balloons on the palace grounds, and has an idea. She takes off her heavy stuff, ties her ankle to a string and floats up with the balloons. Unfortunately she breaks away from the balloon man and floats higher and higher. She is fortuitously rescued by her friend, a boy with a kite. And thus finds a solution to her problem, which not only allows her to float outside but strengthens her friendship as well. Of course the Princess still has to eat meals tied down to a chair, but her floating problem is much more tolerable from now on!

Delightful story with expressive and decorative illustrations by Lane Smith. I loved the Princess, her spunky attitude and her ingenious solution. And the message it gives kids: you can't always get rid of your problems, but you can find a way to manage them and still enjoy life. (And for some reason this book reminds me of the Secret Lives of Princessess).

My only complaint is a minor one: after reading several pages, my tongue really starts to trip over the name Princess Hyacinth. For some reason it's difficult to say out loud too many times in a row.

Rating: 4/5     44 pages, 2009

more opinions:
Possum Bookshelf
Gathering Books
Lil Bug Book Review
BooksForKidsBlog
Read Me a Story

The Life and Love of Cats

by Lewis Blackwell

This is a gorgeous book. A must-have for any cat lover. It is full of stunning photographs- larger than life-size- celebrating feline grace and mystery. The striking images are interspersed with quotes on cats, and a number of essays by the author on different aspects of cats and their relationship with humans. Very thoughtful and insightful. Blackwell muses on why we find cats so appealing and irresistible (quoting the number of google results for cat compared to dog to assert their greater popularity), even scrutinizing the many websites where people share photos of cats (and attribute human thoughts to their behaviors). He examines how cats and people have come together historically- sometimes merely tolerated but more often inspiring such passion as to be revered or heavily persecuted. Looks into some pervasive myths regarding cats' abilities and how they probably arose, the reasons why cats have not evolved such diverse shapes like dog breeds (why was the munchkin cat not mentioned?); the mixing of domestic cats and wildcats, the affect cats have on our moods, and much more. I was surprised to read about how cats' body parts have been used in folkloric medicine in historical times. I was dismayed to read about the Paris cat massacre of 1730. I came away with a short list of more titles on cats, and inspiration to search the internet to learn more about domestic/wild crosses. But most of all I kept returning to the book just to look at the pictures. I had never seen such a closeup of a cat's tongue before, showing the barbels that make it raspy. The many images of cats in front of or outside of windows, looking through, infused with contemplation, are lovely. Overall it was just delightful.

These are some of my favorite images from the book:

This cat's eyes are my absolute favorite color:

This cat looks like one that used to hang around an apartment I lived in for a brief time in southern California. It was very friendly and purred like mad whenever I held it. I asked around; none of the neighbors admitted to owning the cat. My roommate urged me to take the cat home on the plane with me! but I couldn't think how that was possible (I was moving back to my parents' house soon):

So elegant:

So strange and curious:

Beautiful. I borrowed this book from the public library.

Rating: 5/5      216 pages, 2012

more opinions:
The Secret Writer
Texas a Cat in Austin

The Elephant Whisperer

by Lawrence Anthony

The author of this remarkable story ran a wildlife reserve in Zululand. He unexpectedly became the owner of a family of "rouge" elephants when their lives were threatened: they were such troublemakers that they were going to be killed. When first introduced to the Thula Thula reserve, the elephants did continually break out at first, trying to return to their former home (where if found they would be immediately shot). Anthony got the elephants to stay not only by building stronger electric fences, but by convincing the wild elephants (determined to trample any humans they saw) that he was not a danger to them, and to keep them calm until they accepted the new place as their home. They grew to trust him enough that he was eventually able to approach the adults closely, and they even began to seek out his company. The story relates his continual struggle to keep the animals (and people who worked or lived on the reserve) safe- dealing with poachers, neighboring tribal strife, floods and storms that broke fences, his own dogs confronting dangerous wildlife, poisonous snakes, preparing the reserve to receive guests (and then dealing with a new set of problems they brought) for the much-needed income, and so on. There are funny moments as well as sad ones- more than once evoking an involuntary verbal outburst from me as I read the pages. There were also many incredible moments, as Anthony learned how to communicate with these giant, wild animals in an effort to gain their trust and promote healing from the atrocities they had suffered at the hands of man (much of their family killed before they came to the reserve). It is definitely a book I want to read again.

When looking for more reviews about this book online, instead I found numerous articles relating how after his death in 2012, the author's home was visited by two herds of elephants. The elephants had not been to his house in three years, but travelled miles through the bush to pay a visit upon his death. They stayed for two days, then trekked back into the bush. No one knows how they were aware of his passing.

Anthony also wrote a book about rhinos, and one about his efforts helping to rescue wildlife from the Baghdad Zoo in 2003. Want to read both of those now.

Rating: 4/5       368 pages, 2009

Yatandou

by Gloria Whelan

Yatandou lives in a Mali villiage in Africa. Only eight years old, she must help her family prepare food by pounding millet grain into flour - a task that takes hours each day. She loves her pet goat, but doesn't have much time to play with him because she must work. She hears of a machine that might come to the village- a machine that can grind the millet for them. The women are saving their money to buy it. Yatandou, realizing how this can help her village and make their lives easier, sells her goat in the market to help pay for the grinding machine. It is a wonderful thing when the machine finally arrives. Not only does it relieve the women of some of their workload, but it grinds grain so much faster that they can now sell some surplus. A woman comes to the village to teach the women and girls how to write, so they can keep track of how much millet they grind with the machine, and who pays for it. Yatandou wonders at the novelty of writing: How strange it is to see that our words have a face. Her father complains that the women will become idle and cause trouble now that the machine is doing some of their work, but Yatandou's mother pacifies him with special bat stew. (I was sad to read of the bats getting eaten, especially when it made me think of this history). At the close of the story, the girl Yatandou carefully writes her name on her pounding stick, so she can one day show it to her own child and explain how the machine has changed her village, that her own future daughters and granddaughters will never have to use it.

I picked this book out at the library because I wanted to see more by illustrator Peter Sylvada. It took me a while to appreciate the pictures this time- their indistinctness makes me squint. But they really do convey a sense of shimmering heat and dusty haze, an atmosphere beaten by the blazing golden sun. I ended up reading Yatandou a few times, even though it was a bit too sophisticated a story to share with my three-year-old. It really grew on me. Not only does it show how hard life is for kids in other parts of the world, but one girl's sacrifice to help improve conditions in her village. Throughout the story are details of the culture, the landscape and the weather, mention of traditions and stories told to children, that bring the place alive. I was impressed at how precious and thoughtful Yantandou seemed- an eight-year-old child giving something up for a better life, and also thinking of the importance to teach her future children how things had changed because of that.

Rating: 3/5        32 pages, 2007

more opinions:
Muddy Puddle Musings
Your Friendly Librarian

Spirit Horses

by Tony Stromberg

A large art book full of gorgeous photographs. They all depict horses, most appear to be wild horses. Depicting the animals' beauty, strength, family bonds and most of all, the glory of their speed. In fact I was a bit surprised how many pictures in the book had a blurred effect. There were some so blurry I couldn't tell what the picture showed me- flowing horse hair? But the ones with close detail focus are really exquisite to look at. Many are black and white or with limited color; my favorites are the images in sepia tones. Especially the few (like the cover image) that show a blonde horse, the pale hair seeming to float as they move across the page. You really feel the strength and beauty of the animals in these pictures. There's an introduction where the artist explains why he chose to photograph horses and what he hopes his art will communicate to others. Our need to feel a connection to nature and what the horses can teach us. There are quotes about horses and nature throughout the pages. My favorite quotes from the book:

Different forms of life in different aspects of existence make up the teeming denizens of this earth of ours... and all beings primarily seek peace, comfort and security. Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures. - the Dalai Lama

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things man himself will not find peace. - Albert Schweitzer

This is a book you will want to look through again and again. Just sit and look at it. I borrowed it from the library. Some of the photographs here.

Rating: 4/5      160 pages, 2005

more opinions:
My Horse Daily

Sky Dancer

by Jack Bushnell

Jenny is thrilled when she sees a hawk on her father's farm. It perches in the same tree on the edge of a snow-covered field, and every day she goes out to see it. But then she hears men in town talking, her neighbors who have lost chickens to a hawk. Even though it's against the law, they feel justified in hunting the hawk down, to protect their livestock. Jenny starts to worry: will the hawk attack her father's chickens? will one of her neighbors shoot it? She feels an affinity with the wild bird, thinks that it comes to the farm just to visit her. Celebrating nature and the closeness of a fierce wild thing, this book also takes a serious look at the reality of what happens when a predator visits a farm. Spoiler: this particular hawk doesn't die, but a different one is shot. The illustrations by Jan Ormerod are lovely watercolor paintings, overlaying expressive line ink drawings.

Rating: 4/5       32 pages, 1996

more opinions:

Welcome, Brown Bird

by Mary Lyn Ray

I got this book at the library because I wanted to find more picture books with illustrations I love looking at. So I searched for some of the illustrators I've really admired in past books. This one has lovely oil paintings by Peter Sylvada, whose work I first saw in Gleam and Glow. (I thought I had written about that one, but can't find it anywhere on my blog! Must remedy that...)

The book is about a bird, a brown nondescript bird with a lovely flutelike song. On a farm a boy waits for late spring, when he always hears the song of the thrush. When his father wants to clear some land for a corn field, the boy begs him to leave the trees standing, because that is where the thrush lives. His father agrees. In fall the bird flies away and the boy waits all winter to hear it again. Meanwhile, in another part of the world a different boy waits for summer to end, waits for the rainy season when he will hear the thrush's song. His father also wants to clear trees off the land, and this boy too begs to leave them alone- for that is where the bird lives, the bird with a voice like a clay flute. This father too, agrees, and the boy listens all winter until the thrush disappears in springtime. Neither boy knows where the thrush goes when it leaves them, but they are tied together.

In the afterward the author gives some information about migratory birds, particularly the thrush, and how they are threatened by habitat loss. It's an important message beautifully communicated. I love looking at the pictures- the rich texture, the broad paintbrush strokes that suggest just enough form to let your mind fill in the rest.

Rating: 4/5      32 pages, 2004

more opinions:
Nurture PDX

The Curious Garden

by Peter Brown

One day a little boy is exploring his dreary, gray city when he finds access to an abandoned elevated railway. There are a few weeds and wildflowers growing up there. The boy starts to water and prune them, and the plants begin to thrive and spread. Eventually they grow across the entire railway. When winter comes the boy can't visit his garden anymore, but he does research- reading gardening books! In spring he starts tending to the plants again. They spread further into the city, and other people become inspired to garden as well. Before long there are rooftop and hellstrip gardens all over the place; topiary animals, treehouses and twining ivy climbing up walls. The illustrations are really lovely. The endpapers show before and after: at the front of the book you see a spread of the gray cityscape, at the back it's all green rooftops. If you look close in that final picture, you can find the little spot on the elevated where it all began. The afterward says this story is based on an abandoned elevated in Manhattan that became a garden space. Awesome. It all reminds me very much of Extra Yarn- the spread of color and liveliness through a dreary town. There's a good message here, too, about learning and leading by example. This boy didn't know anything about gardening when he found the plants, but he tried things and eventually succeeded. And others followed suit. Like Seedfolks, too.

I found this book at the public library.

Rating: 4/5        36 pages, 2009

more opinions:
Jen Robinson's Book Page
Booktalking
Ekostories
Help Readers Love Reading

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest

by Charles de Lint

Lillian loves exploring the forested hills behind her Aunt's farm. But one day she gets bitten by a poisonous snake deep in the woods, and is about to die. The cats who gather there save her with a bit of magic that transforms her into a cat. I thought the story would take off with Lillian-the-kitten discovering how to live like a cat and having all kinds of feline adventures. Not so! She only wants to become a girl again. With the help of a fox (driven by curiosity about her unique circumstance) she finds a possum witch who can transform her back into a girl, but at a steep price. Undaunted, Lillian goes ahead. But when she realizes the consequences of her choice, she has to make things right again. This takes her on a quest to find some ominous-sounding bear people who might be able to help, and in the end she gets assistance from a tree spirit and the Father of Cats himself (a black panther) as well. I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this story. It has a definite fairy-tale flair, with the girl having to go out on a journey to resolve her problem, work in servitude, solve riddles, befriend animals and the like. My curiosity kept me reading but I also really enjoyed her character- Lillian is a very determined and spunky girl (she reminded me of Ronia). I also liked the strong message the story had of facing consequences and living up to promises. And of course the animal characters were great. This is the first de Lint story I've really enjoyed, I'm glad I finally found one to my liking. Maybe The Squirrel Wife got me into the mood to read younger, magical fiction again.

A lot of the setting and even the magical elements, made me think this story was set in the Appalachain hills, or backwoods of Florida. Of course it's purely made up- but the presence of the panther, something in the way people talked, the myth of the spiders- it all made me curious how much de Lint had invented himself, and how much he had drawn on existing mythologies.

Apparently this book is expanded from a shorter version the author wrote earlier, called A Circle of Cats. The illustrations by Charles Vess are lovely- so full of green!

Rating: 3/5        285 pages, 2013

More opinions:
Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Book Wars
The Book Monsters
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales
Bookfoolery

The Bookseller of Kabul

by Åsne Seierstad

I thought I would love this book, but it was different than I expected. From the introduction, I thought it would be the story of how the journalist fit into an Afghan family's life, her observations of their family dynamics and conflicts with them (at one point she says "I have rarely quarreled as much as I did there. Nor have I had the urge to hit anyone as much as I did there.") But the journalist has no presence in the story at all. She describes everything in the third person, a flowing narrative style. I really wonder what was left out- she states that nothing was written here that the family did not want her to share. And some of the things shared made me cringe; in the end I did not like the bookseller himself at all, even though the premise is what made me pick up the book. I could not abide some of his actions and decisions.

It is all about a bookseller in Kabul and his family. How he loves knowledge and books, saves them through the turbulent, oppressive times living under control of the Communists and then later the Taliban era. He watched his books being torn apart, burned or confiscated, was imprisoned for selling illegal materials, rescued and hid books in attics all over the city. It was awful to read about how public libraries were pillaged and destroyed, yet this man hoarded the books he was able to find and planned one day to return some ten thousand books to the library, when it was rebuilt and safe to do so. He also supported education, travelling into Pakistan to print textbooks himself.  But this is where I started to dislike things. Not surprisingly, he had no regard for copyrights and would simply take a textbook to a printer, have it copied and reproduced by the hundreds so he could resell to university students. (Reading about the printing process was fascinating). He also made a lot of income off of postcards- selecting photographs and taking them to printers for similar reproduction, then selling them in his shop and to smaller vendors in his town. But later in the book a poor man who cannot feed his starving family, steals bundles of postcards, presumably to sell to the vendors himself at a cheaper price. Our man was brutal in retaliation, incensed that someone would ruin his livelihood. I was appalled at how he treated the poor man and his family.

But yet I couldn't help admiring his love for books, his tireless work in creating a business that not only supported his own family but various male relatives, able to send younger boys to school. Much of the book is not about Sultan himself and the bookshop, but about life in Afghanistan as the people struggle to recover (or just survive) after years of war and strict religious rule. It was another one of those really eye-opening books for me. Each section tells about a different member of Sultan's family, what their life is like, their viewpoint on things. It was night and day for some of them. His son bitterly resents being forced to work in a bookstall. His younger wife is cossetted and pampered, barely lifts a finger to do anything, while his youngest sister works like a slave in the home, doing all the labor of cleaning and cooking. It was a stark picture of how the lives of women are controlled- unable to leave the house without an escort, not really able to choose who they marry, difficult to get an education- some of the women in the story tried to, with dismal results. The bickering, family drama and gossip among relatives and neighbors threatened to tear them all apart.

One thing I did not expect to find was a picture emerging of how men find life in Afghanistan restrictive, as well. At least among this family. Autocratic rule of fathers over sons, mothers arranging their marriages, boys finding no opportunities, getting stuck in a life path they do not want, feeling restricted by religious dictates. Not nearly as controlled as the womens' lives, but still there were a lot of unhappy men feeling constricted and frustrated by their circumstances in this story.

I was surprised at two things mentioned, which I had never heard of. One was of boys crushing a dried scorpion, mixing the resulting powder with tobacco and smoking it to get high. The other was of men betting on fighting quails. I've heard of people pitting roosters, betta fish and even rhincerous beetles against each other, but quail? those diminutive little birds? Apparently they will peck each other to death! Google informs me both of these are relatively common in Afghanistan.

This is one of those very few books that I am not sure if I will keep or not. The picture of all the different layers of life in this one family in Kabul is very interesting reading, but I am not sure I would say it is particularly enjoyable. Valuable, yes. Fun to read, not really. The book stuff- not nearly enough of that. And yet, I learned so much. I am undecided. So I will shelve it for now, and see how it goes if I ever read it again.

Rating: 3/5     288 pages, 2002

more opinions:
Savidge Reads
Book Dragon
The Octogon
Rhapsody in Books
Medieval Bookworm

more TBR

Most of the new-to-me titles this time have come from other books I've read, or films I've seen, or from browsing around online.

The Book of Weeds by Ken Thompson
The Bees by Laline Paull- Kyusi Reader and Opinions of a Wolf
My Accidental Jihad by Krista Bremer- Caroline Bookbinder
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen- The Lost Entwife
Desert Flower by Waris Dirie- watched the film

Do We Need Pandas? by Ken Thompson
The Rent Collector by Cameron Wright from It's All About Books and Bookfool
No Nettles Required by Ken Thompson
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson- Love, Laughter, Touch of Insanity
Jabberwocky by Daniel Coleman- It's All About Books
An Ear to the Ground by Ken Thompson
Bevis, the Story of a Boy by Richard Jeffries
Wood-Magic: A Fable by Richard Jeffries
The Path Through the Trees by Christopher Milne
The Hollow on the Hill by Christopher Milne
The Martyrdom of Man by William Winwood Reade